Chapter 24 Tell Toadette

Wendy straightened out her hair as she stood on the Toad Brigade's front stoop. She let out a breath, her eyes now focused entirely on the doorknob. She rehearsed what she wanted to say in her head, making sure that every word was precisely, one hundred percent perfect. She smoothed out her outfit one more time before knocking on the door.

"Toadette?" she asked, not sure if her voice was loud enough to be heard inside the house. She didn't dare say anything else though, instead opting to wait. She knocked again when nobody else arrived at the front door, her heart racing. She rang the doorbell, and when no one came to her then, she rang it several times. She must look so pathetic, so desperate, were the thoughts running through her head. Her heartbeat escalated. She sweated, her optimism and hopefulness draining away faster than she knew how to handle.

Once she rang the doorbell for what had to be the tenth time, she officially gave up. She sniffled and dried her eyes, telling herself that it wasn't as big a deal as she thought. But even as she told herself that, she didn't believe it. Her mind went back to the horrible place that Toadette had to be in emotionally, and her heart ached because of it. She wanted so desperately to help get her out of that pit… but it seemed that some things in life were just unfixable.

Wiping her eyes, Wendy turned around. She berated herself in her head, feeling like she wanted to slap, kick, and punch herself. She took five steps away from Toad Brigade headquarters, feeling the possibility of everything working out slipping through her fingers like the thinnest kind of sand…

Creak.

Wendy's heart skipped a beat, and her tears immediately vanished. Gasping, she turned to see the green toad, Bank, standing in the doorway. He didn't say anything when he saw Wendy, he just stared at her with this long, stone-cold gaze. While not excited necessarily, Wendy did see this as a gateway towards getting what she wanted. She walked over to Bank, whose eyes didn't shy away from her for even a second.

"Nice to see you, Wendy." He sniffed. "Unless, of course, there's another fake name you would prefer to be called by."

Wendy's heart sank a little, but she didn't back down." "Bank," she said after clearing her throat. "Is Toadette here?"

Bank raised an eyebrow. "What's it to you? She's already devastated enough. She doesn't need any more reasons to feel miserable."

Wendy cringed. "I… I know…" Bank backed up and started closing the door. Before he could, Wendy got in the way, pushing all of her weight against it. "Bank, please!" She grunted; for a Toad, Bank was really strong. "Just… hear… me… out!"

"Why?" Bank asked, still pushing against the door. "Why should I?"

"Because…" Wendy kept pushing as the tears came back up. "I… I want to explain things to Toadette… WOAH!"

Bank had pulled the door open, causing Wendy to collapse onto the ground inside the house. She picked herself up, rubbing the part of her face that had come in contact with the floor. She wanted to fully stand back up, and present herself in the most dignifying way possible, but Bank placed his foot down on her back.

"What is there to explain?" he asked, glaring down at her. "She's destroyed, Wendy!" Wendy's heart broke when she heard that, and it only made the impact of Bank's other words feel even worse. "I've never seen her feel this low! She never wants to leave the headquarters again, and it's all your fault."

Wendy sniffled. She tried not to cry and tried to keep herself together as her emotions became overwhelming. Sure, on some level, she had expected a reaction like this from the Toads. But even though she had been anticipating it, the fact that it was happening right now still made Wendy feel like scum. And the worst part was that she knew she deserved it. She knew that this was warranted from the Toads.

"I…" She tried to take a deep breath, but it was difficult with Bank's foot on her. "I want to make her feel better."

Bank did a double take, even going so far as to take his foot off of her. "You want to make her feel better?" He paused before grunting. "Well, you can't. Nothing you can do or say can make her feel better."

Wendy sighed. "I… I know that." She stood back up, looking into Bank's eyes despite how hard doing so was. "But I at least want to try." She curled a strand of hair over her ear. "She didn't deserve what I did to her. And… well, if I can't make it up to her, I at least want to let her know how sorry I am. And that none of this was her fault."

Bank sharpened his glare, crossing his arms as he squinted into her eyes. "Why should I trust you?"

A heavy feeling set over Wendy's heart. "You… you shouldn't." Her shoulder drooped. "You have no reason to." She tried to keep herself from turning into a wet, puddly mess. "And… well, I know that nothing I can say will make you do so, so…" It hit her all at once. How much of a long shot this idea was, how naive and far-fetched it was to believe it would actually work. With despair infecting her soul, she turned away. "So… I'll just…"

She began walking away, doing her best to not sob. She supposed it would be best for everyone if she didn't ever interact with Toadette ever again. Without Wendy's presence, maybe there was potential for her to fully recover. Maybe there was potential for Toadette to figure out how to properly pick herself up, to not let this encounter ruin her life. Yeah, yeah, maybe this was ultimately for the best.

"Wait."

Wendy blinked. Sniffling, she turned back toward Bank. The green Toad… actually looked a little compassionate? Wendy had to rub her eyes, just to make sure she was actually seeing this. She stepped towards him, unwilling to believe that he was changing his mind.

"Uh… yes?"

Bank cringed. He scratched the back of his head, the gears visibly turning in his mind. It took ten seconds before he said something again, ten awful minutes that felt like years shaved off of Wendy's life. However, what those ten seconds had been building towards made them more than worth it.

"Follow me."

Blinking again, Wendy stepped into the headquarters. Bank closed the door behind her and led her through the otherwise empty building, over to the exact room where Wendy and Toadette had sorted the archives. When Bank opened the door, Wendy saw Toadette sitting on the floor. Various documents were spread out around her, and the fact that she had gloves on told Wendy all she needed to know about what was going on in this room.

"Toadette?" said Bank.

Toadette turned. When she saw Wendy, her eyes grew wide, she let out a gasp, and she started to sweat. Guilt shot through Wendy's soul as the Toad girl stood up, forgetting about her documents in favor of this shocking sight.

"What are you doing here?" Toadette squeaked. She turned toward Bank. "Bank, why would you let her in?"

Bank frowned. "She said she wanted to help you feel better."

Toadette gawked. She looked at Wendy. She looked at Bank. Wendy took a step forward, deciding that she had better elaborate if she had any hope of this going well.

"I said that I wanted us to go to Tace T's, and that I would be willing to pay." She held her hands behind her back. "Would you still be willing to take me up on that offer?"

Toadette did a double take. She looked back at Bank, who right now just looked grumpier and more confused than anything else. She looked at Wendy, her black eyes shining with an emotion Wendy couldn't even name. Wendy stood stock still, as if moving would scare Toadette and tempt fate. She tried her best to smile, tried her best to look inviting despite the horrible emotions brewing within her.

Then, Toadette said the absolute last thing that Wendy would've expected. "Sure…"

Wendy let out a breath of relief. She managed to smile, even though the dark feelings within her were still present. "Thanks." She looked at Bank. "Would you like to come too, Bank?"

Bank did a double take. "Uh…" he looked at his archivist. "Only if Toadette wants me to."

"No Bank, it's alright." Toadette took a step forward. "I think this is something Wendy and I need to do alone."

Wendy nodded. "Very well." She gestured for Toadette to follow her before making her way toward the door.

…

Not even the richness of the peanut butter chocolate cake bomb Wendy had ordered at Tace T's tasted good under all this pressure. The two girls hadn't said anything to each other while they were on their walk, and they had proceeded to say nothing to one another when they had walked into the bakery. The only words that had left their mouths were the baked goods they had wanted to eat, and so far, nothing else that could come to Wendy's mind was worthy of breaking the silence.

She took another bite of her cake bomb. She looked at Toadette, carefully nibbling on the edges of her star-bit cheesecake. Wendy's stomach churned, which was another factor that made it hard to eat her dessert. She looked down at her cake, then over at Toadette's.

"Is it good?" she asked, almost without thought."

Toadette pulled her fork out of her mouth. "It is." There was a pause. "How's yours?"

"It's good."

Toadette nodded, and the silence returned. Wendy was thankful that they weren't the only ones in the bakery at the time, because if other patrons hadn't been there and hadn't been chatting away, then the silence would've been unbearable. Wendy directed her gaze out of the window. She thought a little bit about where the conversation should go from here.

Although… well, she knew that she shouldn't have to think too hard. She knew what she wanted to say. She knew what she should say. A whole list of things she needed to say waited to be used in her head, written in all caps and using the most bolded letters possible. She looked back at Toadette, realizing that she shouldn't procrastinate on this anymore.

"Toadette?"

Toadette lifted her gaze. Wendy took a deep breath, preparing herself to start checking things off the list and hopefully do it in the best way possible for the Toad girl.

"I'm sorry."

Toadette blinked. She didn't move for a couple of minutes, didn't even flinch or twitch. Wendy's stomach churned even more, and it felt as though she was on the cusp of throwing up.

"Um… thanks?" Toadette gripped her fork limply. "I… appreciate it."

Wendy nodded. "Well, it's the truth." She placed her hands down on the table, far away from her cake bomb. "I owe you a thousand apologies, and I don't have enough time in the world to deliver them all to you."

Toadette hesitated. "Let's…" she picked her fork back up before taking out a chunk of her cheesecake. "Let's just start with one for right now, okay?"

Wendy let out a breath that was almost relieved. "Okay." She watched Toadette as she chewed. Her stomach wasn't as grumpy as before, but she still didn't want to eat her cake at the moment.

When Toadette swallowed, she wiped her mouth with her napkin before looking Wendy right in the eye. "I just… I guess, more than anything else, I want to know why this happened. I know you said you didn't have a reason, but…"

Wendy's stomach churned again. "That isn't very satisfying, is it?"

Toadette shook her head. "Not in the least."

"I… I get that," Wendy said with a nod. She pushed her plate to the side. "And… and I don't blame you for feeling that way." She scratched a spot on her head. "And I can say with full confidence that what I said isn't completely honest." Toadette perked up and leaned forward when she said that. "I just… I didn't think you would be able to accept my actual reasoning if I gave it to you."

Toadette leaned forward even more. "Try me."

Despite everything, Wendy managed to chuckle. "Okay." She bit her lip. "You see, the reason why I did what I did was… I just wanted to be friends with you."

Silence. Wendy bit her lip extra hard as she waited for Toadette's response. Surprisingly, Toadette actually laughed a little bit.

"You serious?"

"Yes," Wendy said, trying to keep her voice from sounding weak. "And, well, I didn't think you'd be willing to be my friend if you knew who I actually was."

Toadette nodded. "I guess I can't blame you for thinking that." She paused. "I guess…"

Wendy sunk into her chair a little. "But… well, I shouldn't have lied to you the way I did. You… you don't deserve that." She swallowed a lump. "You don't deserve any of that. You… everything I said to you while we were hanging out is something that I still fully stand by. You are still one of the nicest people I've ever met." She began to feel sick. "And… you deserve a better friend than a koopa who is willing to lie to you for completely self-serving purposes."

Toadette stayed silent. Wendy turned away from her, now feeling a new bout of shame overcoming her. She couldn't think of anything to say. She couldn't think of anything she could do. Even though she had explained herself, she still felt lower than the dirtiest scum. She fully stood by what she had just said; Toadette deserved a better friend. Toadette deserved to hang out with someone better. Someone better than Wendy could ever hope to be.

"Do you not have friends at home?"

Wendy did a double-take at those words. "Um… I do. But… I like making friends with a lot of people." She smiled. "People are just really interesting. And really nice too. Hanging out with all sorts of different people is just fun to me. It's always been fun."

"Why do you think that is?"

Wendy hesitated. "Well… I guess because growing up, I was always a little lonely. Being the only girl in a family of nothing but boys often made me feel like I was the odd one out. And… well, I felt as though there were somethings I couldn't talk about with my brothers when I was really little." She looked down at the table. "And I didn't really have a lot of social skills as a kid, mostly because I didn't really have anyone to interact with except my family. So, the second I got the opportunity to start making friends and meeting more people outside of the castle, I just thought it would be the perfect opportunity. I thought it would be nice to talk to someone new, to find someone who I could legitimately say knew me for me." Wendy paused. She looked back at Toadette, all at once feeling embarrassment overcome her. "Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent there."

"It's okay." Surprisingly, Toadette actually smiled. "It makes perfect sense why you would feel this way." She scooted closer. "And… I don't really blame you for anything."

Wendy did a double take. "Really?"

"Really. Because, if I'm being honest, I like what I've seen of you when we were hanging out. Sure, you lied to me about your name and where you were from. But, for some reason, I don't think you lied to me about the kind of person you are." Toadette frowned. "And sure, maybe that's just me being really naive. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part. But… I don't know. I feel like you were being genuine while you were around me, like you were being your true self." She smiled again. "So… no. I don't blame you too badly for what you've done."

Wendy gawked for a few minutes before sniffling. "Th… thank you." She dried her eyes. "I don't… I'm really happy you feel that way." She wiped her nose, all at once becoming increasingly aware of how gross she must look. "I mean… I'm probably going to be turned back into a koopa at some point, so I don't know how well a friendship could work for us when I go back…"

"True." Toadette chuckled. "But we can cross that bridge when we get to it." She took Wendy's hand. "Overall, I'm really glad that we met."

Wendy's heart fluttered as she beamed. "I am too."

Suddenly, the door to the bakery opened. Wendy turned, doing a double take when she saw who had come in. "Mario?"

Mario turned toward them and let out a breath. "Oh, thank goodness." He went up to the girls. "Wendy…" he blinked when he saw Toadette, but didn't address that as he looked back at the Koopaling. "Wendy, I need you to come back to the castle."

Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Something happened." Mario smiled. "Something that might just get you on the road towards you and your brothers getting your lives back."