Oh boy, I've done it again... I made another giant chapter, passing 4200 words this time, and that's AFTER splitting it into three parts! The first part was Luigi's introduction at the end of the last chapter. Part 2 is this chapter (Duh), and part 3 will be chapter 5 (Which is completely blank as of typing this) and HOPEFULLY, I will have a chapter actually land in that range this time...

This is the third time in a row I overshot my 2600 to 3400 word range by a landslide. At least I was able to split chapter 1 in two. But consequently, this made chapters 1 & 2 undershoot the range by a couple hundred words each. I planned for this story to be consistent in chapter length and all of my chapters failed so far. But I'm confident that chapter 5 will fall within that range. (Ugh, I probably jinxed it now that I've said it.)

I have something else to say, but I'll put it at the end of the chapter.

Anyway, enjoy this long chapter.

Upon hearing the quiet sound, Lemmy stopped crying, looked up and to his left to find Luigi standing just in front of the door.

With a yelp, Lemmy jumped and stumbled, nearly falling off his ball in the process. This sudden reaction made Luigi jump back a little with his muscles tensed up.

Lemmy quickly regained his balance, but struggled to regain his composure, "H-How long were you standing there?!" Lemmy stuttered as he frantically wiped his tears.

Luigi stammered a little, but was able to answer the question, "About 10 seconds." Lemmy flinched at his answer, quickly turning his eyes away from him, "Gah! Did he just catch me like this!?"

Luigi, who watched his body language carefully, could tell that he caught Lemmy at a bad time, and now he knows that Lemmy knows he saw him crying. Based on the way he reacted, he could tell his emotions were genuine.

While Luigi didn't know that much about Lemmy, he could tell he was upset with something. He couldn't help but ask, "Uh, are you okay there?" Lemmy looked back at him with slight surprise. He stuttered a little before coming up with an answer, "W-Why do ask? I-I'm okay!"

Okay, it's confirmed, something was clearly wrong, and it was serious enough to drive the kid into tears.

"Um, you don't sound okay. Is everything alright?" Luigi knew he probably shouldn't be prying into other people's business, but he couldn't help but feel curious.

Lemmy quickly responded with a 'leave me alone!' look, "I'm fine! Everything's alright! I-I wasn't crying!" Luigi just stood there for a moment, wondering whether or not he meant to slip that last bit there. Contemplating for a moment, he decided to press on it, "I… never said anything about you 'crying.'"

Lemmy gasped as he quickly turned his head away to hide his face from him, "No! I said it out loud!" Realizing he had accidentally confirmed to him that he wasn't okay, he began to internally kick himself, he couldn't believe he just slipped up like that.

Lemmy didn't want this to continue any further, and frantically wanted to change the subject. While turning his shell to him, he tried to brush it off, "I- it's none of your business, Luigi! L-Let's just start our battle already!"

Luigi knew Lemmy was right, it wasn't his business, and this is the part where they would normally start battling. But Luigi just couldn't shake the bad feeling out of him. Almost like he was concerned for him.

Wait. Concerned? For him? Where did that come from?

Luigi watched as he began to slowly roll his ball towards the other side of the room, but was stumbling a little. Which was not like him. Regardless, Luigi decided to pursue the subject a little more, "Lemmy, I saw you were crying, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Lemmy froze with a wince, "Okay, he did see me crying." He turned around and snapped a little, "I'm your enemy!" Lemmy crossed his arms as he looked away from him again while trying to keep his sadness bottled up, "Why would you care if I'm alright?" While he could tell that Lemmy was trying to be intimidating, Luigi did catch the brief flash of pain on the kid's face.

Luigi knew he should probably stop and leave him alone. But the way Lemmy was acting really rubbed him the wrong way. Luigi continued to look at the boy with a look of concern. Knowing that he was only a kid, Luigi knew that if he was going to try and approach the subject, he had to be very delicate here.

He decided to try one more time, if it was brushed aside again, he would drop the subject and move on. "Maybe so. But in the end, you're just a kid, and the way you're acting is kind of a dead giveaway that something is wrong here."

Luigi moved his eyes to focus on a random part of the room as he shifted his shoe awkwardly, he couldn't believe he was talking to an enemy like this, "I guess I'm just a bit worried or something." Luigi looked back at him with what seemed to be said worry, trying his best to make eye contact with him, "Are you sure everything's okay…?"

Lemmy visibly tensed up, continuing to look away from him. But then after a tense moment of silence, Lemmy's body began to relax as his expression slowly changed from attempted bitterness, to that of sadness.

Lemmy slowly looked back up at Luigi. His real emotions beginning to leak out, he stared at him silently for a moment with a look of defeat in his eyes, "You're… not going to drop it, are you…"

Luigi was a bit surprised, he was in fact going to stop and leave him alone if he refused. While something was undeniably wrong, he wasn't going to force him to talk if he didn't want to. Regardless, he wasn't sure if he should respond to that.

But while he thought about it, the silence was all that Lemmy needed to know that he was not going to be able to squirm his way out.

Lemmy looked down towards the floor and sighed as his arms fell to his sides, "Okay… you win…" Lemmy plopped down on top of his circus ball looking defeated, "I'm not fine…" With a sniffle, he finished his sentence, "I'm just… a bit upset…."

Luigi just stared at him, he didn't think Lemmy would actually give in, now he felt guilty for prying. Swallowing hard, he took a couple steps toward him, but made sure not to get too close, he wanted to give the kid plenty of space.

Taking note of the silence and the kid's emotional state, Luigi picked his words carefully and spoke gently, "Do you… want to talk about it?" Luigi quickly raised both of his hands to ease the atmosphere, "Y- you don't have to if you don't want to though."

Lemmy didn't look up at him. Instead, he just sat there silently for a moment before responding, "Not really… but I've been needing to talk to someone about it for a long time…." Lemmy finally looked up at Luigi with sad eyes, not even trying to hide it anymore.

"I'm just feeling overwhelmed by…" Lemmy lifted his hand out towards the rest of the room, "this…" Lemmy looked down at the icy floor again, "We've done this so many times. I'm just tired of it all…"

Luigi's brow furrowed a little, he was admittedly a bit confused, he wasn't expecting that response. Luigi spoke a bit slowly, like he needed confirmation, "You mean these battles we have, right?"

"Well, yeah… but…" Lemmy, still looking down at the floor, began to mutter, struggling to get the words out to the point where Luigi could barely make out what he said, "There's… more… than that…" Lemmy took a shaky breath, and continued slowly, "It's… really everything… being in the Koopa Troop and all…."

"The Koopa Troop?" Luigi had heard it a few times and had a pretty good idea on what it is, but wasn't a hundred percent sure, that or he just wanted Lemmy to confirm it. "You're referring to The Koopa Kingdom's army?"

Lemmy looked back up at him and shrugged, "Uh, sort of. It's really more like King Dad's personal army." Come to think of it, Luigi doesn't really know much about his rival kingdom, but he doesn't see how this information would be useful. But while he was in thought, Lemmy corrected himself, "Well, technically it belongs to the Royal Throne, whoever inherits said throne also inherits its army. I guess it's to make sure there's always a powerful ruler."

Luigi placed a thoughtful hand to his chin, "Huh, that's interesting. A throne with its own army bound to it." This would probably explain why Bowser Jr. is seen with Bowser in kidnapping plots way more often than his siblings, being next in line for king and all.

"So, you're a part of it then?" Luigi knew he probably didn't have to ask. "Yeah… I am." Lemmy said with a slight nod. But then Lemmy lowered his head again, "I wish I wasn't though…." It was only a mutter, but enough for Luigi to barely make it out.

Luigi froze momentarily when he processed it, "Did… did I hear that correctly?" This was something he didn't expect to hear him say and was left pretty confused. Luigi stammered a little, trying to get his words together, "Uh, what do mean by that?"

It took a moment for Lemmy to respond, he looked up at Luigi with a look of frustration, "I mean, I don't want to be a part of it. Because it means having to do things like this." His expression changed to what looked like guilt, "I like being kind to others, I like to be innocent, I like being everyone's friend." Lemmy looked back down at his feet, "But this whole kidnapping the princess thing… it forces me to be the opposite of that…"

Luigi was caught off guard by Lemmy's response, "Wh-… huh?" Luigi knew the reputation of him and his siblings all too well. He has always viewed him as someone who thinks it's all fun and games. Something that would fit in well with his personality as far as he knew. As such, this was the last thing he expected to hear from him.

"I've been ordered to do things that I still feel guilty about… like that time Iggy and I had to stuff Toads into coin blocks…" Lemmy winced as he tensed up, "I'll never forget their heart wrenching cries for help before getting locked in. Those poor Toads didn't deserve it…" He then threw his arms up in frustration, "What good did that even do for us anyway!?" Lemmy hung his head again, "Some of them were probably never freed for all I know…" Guilt oozed heavily from his words.

Luigi couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Is he actually being… remorseful…?" He tried to scan his body language closely for any signs of a facade, but he came up empty handed.

But still, he still had some lurking doubt. This behavior is totally unlike Lemmy at all and it made the green plumber understandably feel uneasy. Lemmy was known to be quite a trickster and how much he loved to perform in front of imaginary audiences during certain battles. The ability to put on a face while hiding your true emotions inside does come natural with a performer after all.

On the other hand, he did walk in on him crying while the kid believed he was alone. The fact he didn't seem to notice Luigi enter and his reaction to seeing him does back this up. So him being genuine was entirely possible.

Taking all of it into account, Luigi was pretty sure Lemmy wasn't bluffing, his emotions and body language showed it. Not only that, using this fake vulnerability as a way of luring Luigi into a trap would be something even Bowser wouldn't do. Regardless, he was going to remain alert in case this was a trap, it's always good to be safe.

Luigi struggled to respond, eventually he came up with one that might reassure him. "Well, we've never had any Toads reported missing after those instances. We always search for any Toads boxed away, and they take head counting very seriously." Luigi was hesitating and stammering as he said that, and that was all the boy needed.

Lemmy looked up at him with skepticism, "I can tell you're just saying that to lighten me up." His face changed back into sadness, "But I'll take your word for it anyway. If only because it'll make me feel just a little better…" He returned to looking down again, "Even if it's true, it doesn't change the fact I feel awful about it..."

Luigi scratched the back of his neck, trying to find his words. He was feeling a bit flustered since he was completely unprepared for this, "Well… I-If you don't like it, then why not refuse?" Luigi smacked himself mentally, knowing it was a stupid thing to suggest, "Oh come on Luigi! Why do you have to be so awkward!"

Lemmy looked back up at him, "You do remember what role I have, right? King Dad has full control over the Koopa Troop, I can't just say no, not if I want to stay loyal to him." He leveled his head while turning his eyes away from Luigi, "Having to carry out these barbaric orders so much… I hate it…." Lemmy snapped his head back up to look at Luigi with frustration, "It's just not me! If I had my way, I wouldn't be in this tower right now!"

He looked down fully once again and sighed, "But I only do these things because I love him, he's the only parent I've ever had in my life. I can't just go and betray his trust like this." Lemmy sadly shrugged, looking defeated, "Orders are orders after all…."

Luigi was once again struggling to come up with something to say, but Lemmy continued onward before he could think of anything, "It doesn't stop at those kidnapping missions either… it also affects my daily life back at home…." Luigi silently winced, "And just when I thought things couldn't get worse."

"Every day, me and my siblings are assigned these duties around the castle." Lemmy lifted his head up and raised one arm, "Sometimes they're simple, like counting crates from new shipments." But his tone fell again as he raised his other arm, "Other times they are duties that are… not for kids…"

Luigi stares at him for a moment, "Uh… can you be a bit more specific?'" Lemmy looks back up at him, "Jobs that are meant for qualified adults." He then scoffs, "I mean, would you have a young kid like me operate expensive machinery?"

"Well, no. No I wouldn't." Luigi placed a hand on his hip, "In fact that would be a pretty bad idea." Lemmy shrugged, "King Dad doesn't seem to think so apparently. It gets worse too. Sometimes the jobs are downright dangerous, regardless of experience."

That last sentence made Luigi feel a little uneasy, "I am probably going to regret asking this." He swallowed hard before he asked cautiously, "Dare I ask, just how dangerous?"

Lemmy's face fell a bit, as if he was recalling unpleasant memories. After a moment, he finally answered, "All I'm gonna say is, try feeding a pen of chain chomps while being small enough for them to consider you as food."

Even though he braced himself, Luigi was still caught off guard by his answer, "A-Are you being serious!?" Lemmy crossed his arms as he turned his eyes away from Luigi again, "I wish I wasn't. It's not even the fifth time I've done it." Lemmy placed a thoughtful hand on his chin, "Or was it the sixth…?" He then shrugged, "I've lost track."

Luigi felt appalled and sickened inside, "Okay, I do regret asking!" He was well aware just how dangerous a single chain chomp can be, but several of them? He really didn't want to think about that. He couldn't imagine just how Lemmy felt about it.

"Who assigns a job like this to a small child like you? Is your father irresponsible or something!?" Lemmy looked back up at him with yet another shrug, "I like to think that he just has very high expectations for us."

His face turns into that of annoyance, "I mean, it's good he thinks we're very capable, but still! I shouldn't even be in the Koopa Troop at all, I'm way too young for this!" Lemmy says as he shoots his arms up in frustration.

With a sigh, Lemmy's tone turned back into that of a gloomy one, "What makes it worse is that we spend more than half our day on these sorts of things. Sure, we get a day off sometimes, but that's pretty rare. It's all day every day most of the time."

Lemmy shifted on top of his ball to get more comfortable on it, "It's not just me. All of my siblings except Junior do these daily tasks." For a moment, Luigi forgot about the rest of the Koopalings, "How do they feel about it?"

Lemmy diverted his eyes away from Luigi again, "They're not as bothered about it as me. But I can tell they're not amused either." Luigi raises a hand to the side, "Makes sense. I wouldn't feel thrilled about having things like this piled on me daily. I'd rather do my own thing, like focus on my hobbies."

Lemmy looked back up at him as if Luigi finally understood him, "Exactly! Being a member of the Koopa Troop takes up so much of my time! You have no idea how draining it is… to always maintain a happy and positive persona while doing these…."

"Between this whole 'kidnapping The Princess' thing, the huge daily workload and responsibilities I have…." Lemmy lowered his head down once again, "Even though I'm still a young child…" His voice began to tremble a little, "I don't even feel like one anymore…."

That last bit hit Luigi particularly hard. He could easily detect the undeniable pain in his voice. It was clear to him that Lemmy strongly disagrees with the status quo. He felt his heart ache for the boy, he never thought he'd feel so much empathy towards someone he always viewed as villainous. He reached the top floor of this tower thinking he was going to be dodging his bombs and bouncing his way to him to give him a good stomp. But this whole interaction had completely subverted his expectations and he was now feeling sorry for that same kid.

During these battles, he would always see Lemmy all happy and giggling as if he's enjoying watching Luigi struggle when in reality, Lemmy was only playing up an act in order to hide his true emotions from not just him, but everyone else too.

Lemmy looked down at his feet, lightly kicking the air in a fidgety sense, "I used to have a pretty normal life before all this." He sniffled a little, clearly struggling to keep his composure.

"We all used to spend time on our own hobbies. Ludwig liked writing his music pieces, Iggy liked going through every science textbook he could find, Wendy liked experimenting with her makeup and dresses and…" Lemmy hesitated for a moment before taking a shaky breath and exhaling, "Larry and I would spend all our time together like always…"

Spending time with a loved one, it reminded Luigi of his own youth. He and Mario spent all their time together as kids, so he can kind of relate to him.

Lemmy gripped his arms and tensed up a little, "But not long after Larry turned six… it all changed…. We all went out on our first kidnapping plot…" He looked back up at Luigi, "It was how you and I first met." Lemmy hung his head down once again, "After that, we started being assigned these… 'chores'... It started off small and simple… but then as we got older, they got more numerous, time consuming, difficult, and even dangerous sometimes…."

Lemmy shut his eyes tightly as he gripped himself tighter, "As we started doing more of these kidnapping missions, I started being given orders I don't feel right about doing. Things I still feel guilty about even now…. I hate how these actions define me to other people, this is nothing like me at all…."

He cracked his eyes open slightly and struggled to focus his vision, "I was only 11 when my life got turned upside down… I've never felt truly innocent ever since…."

Lemmy sniffled a couple more times before he continued, "Larry's case was the worst offender. He only just turned six when he was forced into it with the rest of us. He was so sweet and innocent… he looked nothing like someone who would do these things…. This was forced onto all of us at such a young age…"

Lemmy snapped his head back up at Luigi with tears beginning to well up in his eyes, "At this point, I probably don't even have a childhood anymore!" Lemmy looked back down at the floor as he pounded his fists onto his ball in frustration, "It's just… it's just not fair…"

"Poor kid…" It was obvious to Luigi that Lemmy was trying so hard to keep himself together. He was once again reminded that despite his role, Lemmy was still a kid in the end. A kid who felt like he had lost his childhood far too soon.

Even after all that, Luigi still couldn't believe what he was hearing. But unlike before where Lemmy's emotions were conflicting with his normal happy and cheerful persona, it was the reality that Lemmy has had a rough childhood, one overshadowed by his forced role in his father's army.

It was a problem that has apparently been plaguing him for a while. Considering Lemmy was on the verge of tears, it was clear the stress from all of it really got to him.

For all this time, Luigi has seen Lemmy as someone who was like a miniature Bowser in terms of intentions. A villain who would enjoy participating in these kidnapping missions. But after everything Lemmy has told him, Luigi couldn't help but feel bad for the kid.

But then he remembered something Lemmy had told him right before he began to open up. Something about him needing to talk to someone about it. Thinking about how much his emotions showed, he couldn't help but wonder, has he ever opened up to anyone about it?

"I-If I may, I am curious about one thing." Luigi cleared his throat before asking his question, "Earlier, you said something about, 'needing to talk to someone about it for a long time'. What did you mean by that?" Lemmy calmed down a little and looked up at him, "Oh, that. You see, I haven't told anyone about my problems. I've kept this a closely guarded secret for a long time now."

Luigi's brow furrowed, "So, you've told nobody then?" The fact Lemmy never told anyone about such a serious issue affecting him made him feel a little worried. Lemmy placed his hand on his chin, "Well, there is one person I have told, and it's Larry. Since he knows how much it affects me, he tries to help me every chance he gets. He even comforted me before we left for our towers earlier today."

Luigi breathes a sigh of relief, "Well, at least you're not completely isolated with your problems. It's always good to have someone you can talk to about it." Lemmy then finally smiled a little, "Yeah, he cares a lot for me."

But his smile didn't last long, "But aside from him, I've told nobody. Even with Larry's support, I still feel so… alone in this. Like I don't have a voice that can be heard, or that nobody cares."

Luigi squatted down to his level, like a parent talking to a child. He composed himself and spoke gently to him, "I think it's more like the fact they don't know how much this impacts you as a person. If you address your problems with the man himself, then-" Lemmy abruptly cuts him off, looking very uneasy, "W-Wait, what do you mean?"

Luigi didn't like the sound of his abrupt change in tone. He attempted to backpedal a little, but was stammering in the process, "W-Well, of course you don't have t-" Lemmy frantically cuts him off again, "No no no, what did you mean by that?"

Luigi hesitated for a moment, "Well… this is just an idea but." He clears his throat, "You could try talking to your father about-"

"NO!" Lemmy shouts.

Startled, Luigi recoiled a little, he saw that Lemmy was looking up at him with utter fear in his eyes, "He… he can't know about this!" Lemmy began to frantically look around the room, "He prides himself so much on our loyalty to him! I-If I show signs of not wanting to follow his orders in these kidnapping missions…! What… what would he think of me!?"

Luigi was instantly alarmed by the sudden outburst and began to feel a little panicked, "Uh oh! I think I struck something inside him!" Luigi tried his hardest to compose himself and calm him down, but he couldn't, "No Luigi! Don't freeze! Not now!"

Lemmy grew more panicked as he began to stutter and hyperventilate, "W-What if he gets the wrong idea!? What if he sees me as some kind of traitor!?" Lemmy placed his hands on his head as he began to shake violently, "What would he say…? What would he do!? What if he… he…."

He trailed off and looked straight down. After a moment, Lemmy stopped shaking and went silent. After a very tense moment of silence, tears started to fall down his face as he began to sob quietly.

By the time Luigi had processed what was happening, Lemmy's crying intensified. As if he turned off his ability to balance, Lemmy slid off his ball and landed on the icy floor in front of Luigi, sitting at his feet and crying uncontrollably.

Poor Lemmy... Somebody give the kid a hug... :(

Now, what I wanted to say was that I have changed the summary of this story, I didn't really like the old one to be honest and figured this one would be better. If you found this story after I made that change, I have the old one right here in case you wanted to know.

Family is very important in life. Some bonds are formed stronger than others. Whether a pair can maintain one that can withstand the test of time and hardship is something two young boys had to learn the hard way. They also learned that no matter who they see another as, a bond can form between anyone. I haven't written a story like this before. This story is rated T just in case.

Uh huh, that's neat. Anyway, I gotta fly, stay tuned for Chapter 5!