AN: Hey everyone! Today just so happens to be a very special day! Today… is the one-year anniversary since I published this story!

Yep, I've officially been working on this story for one year! Is this the longest I've ever worked on a fic? No, not even close. But even still, I think this is a special time and should be pointed out. With that being said, I don't want this fic to reach its two-year anniversary. I hope to finish it long before that time comes.

Anyway, on with the chapter! :)

Chapter 26 Emotional Dream

I watched Iggy get dragged away by the cops. Somehow, the sight of that happening felt really… off to me. It didn't feel right; it was like watching a friendship crumble right before your very eyes. It left me with the same unsatisfied, ugly feeling that such an event would leave me with, and on top of that, it left me with one very bizarre, very haunting question.

I was a personality trait?

"MORTON!" I looked up, snapping out of my confusion-based stupor for just long enough to see Antonio coming around the corner. "PEDRO! LUPITA!" He bolted over to the three of us, instantly extending his arms to his kids and hugging them tightly. "Oh, I'm so glad you guys are alright!"

"We are too, Papa!" said Lupita. "Iggy was crazy!"

"Yeah!" Pedro said. "He told Morton that he was a personality trait!" He chuckled, with multiple layers of disbelief contained within the noise. "What kind of stupid sicko do you need to be to think that anyone would believe that?"

I felt a strange feeling in my gut, and I couldn't exactly explain why. Meanwhile, Antonio continued hugging his kids. He eventually let them go, lifting himself up so that he was about level with me.

"Yeah, that story does indeed sound crazy. I'm glad that we managed to get him arrested."

The strange feeling in my gut returned. Once again, I looked away from Antonio. A million thoughts flitted about in my head, none of which were pleasant. I began to sweat, a practice that had absolutely nothing to do with the sun's rays beating down on me.

"Morton? Are you okay?"

I bit my lip. "I…" Honestly, I didn't know what I was. Sure, on some level, what my brother told me before being dragged off by the cops was absolutely insane. It sounded made up, like a way for a criminal to gaslight me into believing and siding with them. By all means, I should be dismissing it. I shouldn't even be giving it a second thought.

So why was I?

"Morton?" Antonio put his hand on my shoulder. "Morton, what's wrong?"

I cringed. I looked into his eyes, so caring and concerned. That look just made my stomach churn even more. "I… I'm fine. Just… just a little bit shaken up by Iggy encountering me, I guess."

Antonio nodded. "I can see that." He looked down at his kids, taking hold of both of their hands. "Well… I think it would be best if we went back to mi casa. We all need a break after what had happened."

Despite my feelings telling me that I probably shouldn't, I nodded my head.

…

"Ay, Dios!" Rosa exclaimed. We were all currently at the dining room table, and Antonio had just finished explaining the situation to her. "That's crazy! Iggy es loco!"

Antonio nodded. "Yes. Indeed." He took a bite of his paella. "I'm just happy that he didn't try to harm anybody. I mean, with what he did to Morton over here, and what he tried to make Morton believe…" he shuddered. "There's no telling what he could be capable of."

Rosa shuddered too, looking at the kids as they ate away at their dinner. As for me, I just sat there, not touching my paella. Not because I disliked it. Far from it; it was one of the most delicious things I had ever tasted. No, I was all but totally preoccupied. I was more so trying to wrap my head around what I felt about the words Iggy had said to me earlier.

A personality trait, he had called me. He had said I was Morton's Depression, that I was a fragment of the real Morton. An absolutely insane thing to say. I mean…how could anybody say that with a straight face? Once again, it sounded absolutely crazy. Plus, there was also an ugly component to the whole thing, buried just a little ways beneath the surface. It almost sounded like Iggy was trying to tell me that I wasn't a person. By saying that I was a fragment, it was like he was saying that I didn't deserve to be treated like I was an actual living being. It sounded mean, it sounded wrong. It sounded as though Iggy was jumping through all the hoops necessary to cover up the horrible things he did to me, and the horrible things he would continue to do to me if I decided to go back with him.

And yet, there was something about what he told me. I wouldn't go out of my way to say it "felt right," but… well, didn't I wake up in Tostarena feeling like some sort of fragment? Didn't I always feel incomplete, like there was a part of me that was currently inaccessible? Didn't I have absolutely no recollection of how I got to Tostarena, nor what my name or even my identity was? Didn't I wrestle with every kind of confusion known to Koopa, both before and after Antonio found me sitting in the sand?

I did, that's the thing. And, on top of that, there had been this little feeling in my mind when I heard Iggy talk to me out in the town square. The most apt way I could describe it was that something clicked. Something within me latched onto the words my possibly insane sibling was speaking to me. Yes, I know that doing so is stupid. I know that doing so was possibly the most dangerous thing I could've done, with Iggy trying to track me down and all that. But… but…

Oh man, I don't know. I don't know what really is going on, and it's killing me. It's like I'm teetering right on the edge of an answer, and yet am too scared to take the leap and find out what was going on. Somehow, this feeling was one of if not the single worst thing I had experienced while in Tostarena. I wanted to cry, pout, shout, and moan. I wanted to beat myself over the head for how foolish I knew I was acting. And yet, part of me knew that doing that wouldn't feel even remotely right.

"Morton?"

Once again, I snapped out of my daze. I looked at the family, all staring at me. I began to sweat again, feeling like I should say something. The only problem was I had no idea what that something was.

"Morton, are you okay?" asked Antonio.

I looked down at my food, biting my lip for a good fifteen seconds. "Yeah," I finally said, practically exhaling the word. "I'm… I think I'm okay." I took a bite of my meal. It was delicious, but all the stress building up inside me made swallowing a chore. I dabbed at my mouth with my napkin and pushed my chair back. "I think I'm gonna turn in for the night."

"So soon?" Pedro asked. "The sun hasn't even set yet?"

"I know." I wiped my brow. "Today's just been a long day, and I think I'd do a better job of wrapping my head around everything after I've slept on it." I turned away from the table. "Thank you for the food, Rosa. I'll see you all in the morning."

"Buenos noches, Morton," said Rosa.

"Yeah," Antonio said after hesitating for a noticeably long time. "Buenos noches."

With that, I went up to the guest room. I closed the door softly behind me, letting out a breath as I looked at the bed. I rubbed my tired eyes, feeling sleepiness overtake me as I carried myself over. The feel of the blankets wrapping around me wasn't felt fast enough, nor was the comfort of being able to rest my body and my mind. As I snuggled under the covers, I hoped I would feel better in the morning. I hoped that I would be able to put all this Iggy nonsense behind me and just live my life peacefully.

That would be the best thing for everyone right now.

…

"Morton… Morton!"

I blinked. Was… was someone calling my name? Oh man, it felt like I had literally just laid myself into bed. Had morning really come that fast? Had I really slept so soundly that it felt like only a minute had passed by? I wanted to laugh and groan at the same time; that all felt so strange. I figured it was time to open my eyes and get up, spending the day with Antonio and his kids.

However, what met my eyes when I opened them wasn't the ceiling of the bedroom I had grown at least somewhat accustomed to. Nor was it sunlight streaming down onto my face from the open window. No, instead, I saw a starry void. In some ways, it kind of resembled the painting I had painted with Antonio earlier, with blues and grays that were soothing yet saddening at the exact same time.

I looked around this void, unsure what exactly was going on. "Uh… hello?" I took a step forward. Part of me probably should've been worried that I was going to fall, but that didn't even occur to me at this very strange moment. I looked around the void, at the stars twinkling around me. "Is… is anyone there?"

Suddenly, the void shifted. The blues changed to purples, purples that were actually very pleasing on the eyes. I was so entranced by the purples that I almost didn't even see a person stepping forward.

"Morton."

I blinked, my jaw dropping when I saw the person. "Uh…" I stepped towards them, uncertainty threatening to snuff out all other emotions. "Who are you? Why… why do you look like me?"

"Because I am you." The other Morton, who had a purple starbite and shell, reached into his hammerspace and pulled out what appeared to be some kind of chocolate bar. "Are you hungry?"

I stared down at the chocolate bar, and my jaw dropped. "Uh… I'm confused more than anything else." I looked at my doppelganger, trying to wrap my head around things and failing miserably. "What do you mean you're me?"

The purple Morton blushed. "Um… well, it's kind of complicated…"

Suddenly, the void shifted again. Yellows and whites made themselves present, which caught me off guard in so many ways. Both I and the purple me turned, and we saw two other mes with colors that corresponded to the colors in the void. The white me smiled at me. The yellow me jumped up and down when they made eye contact with me.

"Wh…" I felt like my whole world was making less and less sense with each passing minute. "What's going on?"

The yellow me zipped forward. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you, Morton! The four of us have tried our hardest to get in touch with you! We didn't even know for certain it would work! Some of the other Koopalings were like 'no, it can't work. It's too much of a gamble, it sounds too impossible.' But… oh man, we found you!" He began jumping up and down. "We found you! We found you! We…."

"Chattiness, settle down." The white Morton approached the yellow Morton, carefully placing his hand on his shoulder. "If we act this way, we have the potential to frighten him." He made eye contact with me, looking at me with a stern yet somewhat gentle expression. "And we certainly wouldn't want that…"

Again, things were making less and less sense to me with each passing second. "Okay, seriously, what's happening here?" I took a step forward. "Who are you guys? Really?"

The yellow me blinked. He exchanged a look with the other mes, who all chuckled and scratched the back of their heads. "Well…" the yellow Morton smiled a little bit. "That's a little hard to explain. You see… we're…"

"We're your other personality traits."

I blinked, turning around to see one more Morton. He had orange features and looked like he'd rather be curled up in bed than standing here with me and my doppelgangers. Regardless, he still stepped towards me, looking as they he was relieved to see me.

"What…" I shook my head, putting my hands to my temples. "What do you mean?"

The orange me sniffed. "We mean exactly what we say. We're…" he yawned. "We're all personality traits of Morton Koopa Jr." He sniffed again. "I'm Morton's Laziness."

"I'm his Chattiness!" said the yellow me.

"And we're his morality and his love for food," the white me said while gesturing to the purple me. "We've been wanting to see you for a long time, Depression."

"Yeah," said the purple me, smiling as he did. "Just being in your presence, even in the dream world, makes us feel a little more complete."

I blinked my eyes out. "Dreamworld?" It all became clear to me, and it caused me to laugh for perhaps the first time since waking up in Tostarena. "Oh, I get it. I'm dreaming right now." I shook my head. "This is all a dream, and you guys aren't even real! This is probably some crazy way my brain is trying to make sense of what Iggy told me earlier!" I shook my head again, still smiling and chuckling. "It all makes perfect sense now."

The other mes exchanged looks. The expressions they wore told an interesting story; they looked a little disappointed, yet at the same time, completely understanding. These two emotions paired together did interesting things to me. My stomach flip-flopped, and my heart pitter-pattered. All of a sudden, I felt seriously unsure of my words, unsure of the perspective that I had just established for myself.

"D…doesn't it?"

The white Morton cleared his throat and took a step towards me. They put their hand on my shoulder. "Well… you are right about one thing. You are dreaming. But… it's not an ordinary dream."

"It's not?"

"No," said the purple Morton. "You see the four of us have gone out of our way to try and connect with you in the mindscape."

"That we did," said the yellow me. "I mean…" he giggled as the orange me lay down on the ground and started to snooze. "We thought it was possible. The five of us are all connected to each other, even with the fact that Iggy separated us from each other. We figured that if we could connect with each other while we were awake, it wouldn't be any different if the five of us were asleep."

I gawked at them. As I looked at these other mes, my mind began to wrap around what was happening. "So… wait. What… what Iggy said was true?" I looked down at my hand, wiggling my fingers. "I really am a personality trait?"

"Correct," said the white Morton. He smiled. "Iggy split us up with a Personality Splitter he built. He wanted to find what was the cause of… well, you."

"Yeah!" said the yellow Morton. "Sure, I think what he did was ultimately a little extreme, but… well his heart was in the right place, at least."

"Yeah," said the purple Morton. "If he hasn't found you yet, he is going to explain that to you when he does."

All of a sudden, I seized up. My blood turned to ice as my heartbeat became irregular. "Oh…" I put my hand to my head. "So… he was telling the truth." I began to shake. "He actually was telling the truth…"

"Yeah," said Chattiness, smiling as he did. "He just wants to bring you back to the castle so we can figure out a way to…" he paused. "Wait. You mean you ran into him?"

My breathing was at an impossibly unmanageable rate. "I… I did."

Morality blinked. "Wait. So, you ran into him… and you didn't think he was telling the truth?"

It felt like someone was squeezing my heart like a stress ball. "No…"

The other mes' eyes grew wide as I began to explain what had happened. It took me quite a while to do so, both because of how hard it was to think about what happened and because I felt so bad. And I don't just mean emotionally bad; I felt physically sick while recalling what had happened to me with Iggy. It was a miracle I didn't pass out (not that that was necessarily possible in a dreamscape).

"Oh my," said Morality.

Even Laziness got out of the lying down position to give me a horrified look. "Wait, so Iggy's being held in a jail?"

I bit my lip, hating the horrified looks my other traits were giving me. "Yes. He is."

Chattiness gasped. "Oh no." He started pacing around, muttering "This can't be happening" on a loop under his breath.

Morality took a step towards me. "Depression, you need to get him back! He's the only way to get you back home! He's the only way to put us personality traits back together."

I nodded. "I know. I know…" I tried my best to breathe, to think. "I just…" I looked down at my hands again, all at once feeling helpless in a completely new way. "I don't know if I can…"

"Of course, you can!" said Morality. He stepped towards me, now looking ultra-determined. "I know you can! You're way stronger than you think!"

"Yeah!" said Love for F… Foodie. "I know you might not feel very strong. Believe me; you and I were once attached, I know exactly how you're feeling. But it's not true!"

"Totally not true!" exclaimed Chattiness. "Just because you feel bad doesn't mean you aren't strong! You are a very strong person, Depression. We all are!" He smiled. "You will be able to rescue Iggy within no time at all! You'll get him out of jail, and we'll all be reunited."

I slowly lifted my head. "You think so?"

"We know so," Morality said. "Sure, it might seem impossible. But that doesn't mean it is."

I looked down at my feet. On some level, part of me wanted to reject what my other personality traits were telling me. After all, all of my existence, I had felt weak. I had felt like no one cared about me, like I was insignificant. I felt like a being that most people would ignore. But… well, maybe I could do this. Maybe I could rescue Iggy. I mean, everyone was counting on me to do this. And I didn't want to let anyone down. Sure, life was scary and often left me feeling bad. But I knew for a fact I didn't want to spend it letting others down.

"Alright." I gripped my hand into a fist. "I'll do it! I'll go rescue Iggy as soon as I wake up!"

"Awesome!" The other mes all exclaimed in unison.

"We know you can do it!" said Foodie.

"We believe in you," said Morality.

"Give it your all!" said Chattiness.

"Yeah, what they said," Laziness groaned.

I smiled. I decided that I wanted to try and rescue Iggy as soon as possible. So, with all of my other traits on me, I closed my eyes…

…

And woke up in Antonio's guest bedroom. I didn't waste any time; I got out of bed and bolted toward the door. Determination filled me as I passed Antonio in the hall.

"Morton?" he asked. "Where are you going?"

"There's something I have to do." I got to the end of the hallway before I stopped. Something occurred to me; there was something I needed to do first before rescuing Iggy. I turned toward Antonio, giving him a smile. "By the way, thank you for being so kind to me. I don't know where I'd be without you and your family."

Antonio blinked before returning my smile. "Of course, Morton. It was our pleasure."

With my smile growing bigger, I rushed toward the front door.