"What is it?" Lemmy looked up at him with sad eyes, "You know how I came home after that embarrassing loss?" Larry hesitantly nodded, "What about it?" Lemmy swallowed hard, looking increasingly nervous, "I…" He sighed, "I'm really sorry, Larry…" Larry tilted his head a little, feeling a bit concerned for his tone, "For what…?" Lemmy hung his head a little, "It… was all an act…" Larry did a double take, "Huh? An act?"

Lemmy didn't move, "It was. All of it." Larry was very confused, "What do you mean? What was an act?" Lemmy looked back up at him, "My battle. The whole story of my battle never happened. None of it was true."

"What?" Larry placed his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes, "Lemmy, you came back covered in soot!" Lemmy was unfazed, "The soot from the bouncy bomb?" Larry nodded firmly as he held his hand out to him, "Yeah! The one Luigi blew you up w-''

"The one 'I' blew myself up with…" Lemmy cut him off as he looked down to his bed in guilt. Larry was taken aback by what he just said, "What…?" His eyes widened when it sunk in, "W-Wait! You blew yourself up!? Why would you do that?" Lemmy was silent for a moment before responding, "It was so nobody would get suspicious." Larry had tensed up at what he just said, "S… Suspicious? Of what?"

"About… what really happened…" Lemmy kept his head down, lightly wiggling his feet awkwardly. Larry, wondering what could've happened, assumed the battle went differently, "So… your battle played out differently?" Lemmy shook his head, "No…"

Larry was confused, didn't Lemmy just contradict himself? "What? But you just said 'what really happened'! How could your battle not play out differently?" Lemmy still refused to look up, "Because… there…" He took a deep breath and sighed before finishing, "Was no battle… at all…"

Larry was not expecting that answer, causing him to stutter a little, "N… no battle…? But, how can that be? Luigi can't pass until he beats you! Did he sneak by you or something?" Lemmy once again shook his head, "No, he didn't…"

"Then what happened?" If his battle didn't play out differently, and Luigi didn't sneak by, then what happened? Lemmy had deliberately blown himself up to hide something. As such, Larry couldn't help but dread what it was. Lemmy hesitated before he took a deep, albeit shaky breath before exhaling, evidently very nervous. He finally looked back up at Larry with soft, but gloomy eyes, "I… gave him the key…"

Larry's eyes widened as he felt his blood run cold, he was not sure if he heard him right. Lemmy tilted his head a little, "Uh… Larry… you okay?"

"You WHAT!?"

Lemmy swiftly placed his small hands on Larry's face and clamped his mouth shut with a loud shush, "Not so loud!" Lemmy said in a hushed voice. Larry was greatly alarmed by this, he was even more on edge than he already was. However, while still shocked, he stayed silent. After Lemmy released his hands from his face, Larry spoke in said hushed voice, "You gave him the key!? Why would you do that!?" Lemmy held up his hands in a reassuring manner, "Wait, hear me out! I kind of had a good reason." Larry gawked at him, "What could possibly give you a good reason for that!?"

Lemmy thought out how he could word it, but when he had no luck, he sighed, "I'll just start from the beginning." He looked down at his feet again, "You remember how I feel about the whole kidnapping missions and Koopa Troop thing?" Larry slowly nodded, "Y… Yes? But what does that have to do with this?"

"While I was waiting in my tower, I was gazing out the window and reflecting on all of my troubles, I was feeling really upset and…" Larry felt a horrible pit in his stomach form, "And…?" Lemmy still kept his head down, "I guess Luigi arrived early or something because he walked in and caught me moping." Larry tilted his head a little, "You didn't hear him coming?" Lemmy snapped a little as he looked up at Larry, "Look, I was too busy crying to notice, okay?"

"C… Crying?" Lemmy looked back down with sad eyes, "I was having one of 'those' moments…" Larry's heart ached a little when he said that, "O-Oh…" Larry looked at his smaller brother with guilt, he felt bad that he couldn't be there to comfort him. Then he remembered what Lemmy just said, "So… Greeny just walked in on you like this?" Lemmy silently nodded before he continued, "When I saw he was there, I tried to brush it all off and start our usual battle, but he wouldn't stop asking if I was okay."

Larry scoffed a little while trying to put on his usual snarky face, his nervousness still won out, "Prying much?" Lemmy looked back up at him, "It was less prying and more like concern." Larry wasn't convinced by that, "Concern? From a Mario brother? I don't buy it for one second." Lemmy gave him a stern look, "Larry, I know it was concern, I saw it in his eyes and there was no question about it. I know he knew that seeing me like that was totally unlike me at all, so he was right to be concerned." Lemmy hung his head again, "Anyway, after he asked me a few times, I eventually caved and…" He took a deep breath and sighed, "I… told him about my problems with… all this."

Larry's face went pale, "No… this… this can't be… there's no way he…. He wouldn't!" When Larry attempted to get himself together, he couldn't say much, "You… didn't… no…" He simply couldn't believe it, he was desperately hoping that Lemmy was playing a joke on him. But Lemmy instead confirmed it when he looked up at him, "I did, Larry…"

Larry snapped out of it and shook his head, "Why would you tell HIM of all people about something this personal and private!? It's like your biggest weakness!" Lemmy sighed exasperatedly as he looked back up at Larry, "Look, the whole thing was getting to me okay? I wasn't thinking straight…" Larry, while appalled, looked more scared if anything, "Lemmy! Do you even realize what you've done!? He KNOWS your biggest weakness! Now he can abuse it for his own benefit!"

"Oh come on, Larry, he wouldn't do that." Larry snapped, "Yes he would! He's the enemy!" Lemmy raised a hand dismissively, "So what? That doesn't mean he does bad things!" Larry then got off his bed and poked Lemmy's chest, "Yeah, and how do you know that?" Lemmy then crossed his arms sternly, "King Dad has kidnapped the Princess dozens of times, has tried to build a galactic empire, overworks his unqualified kids, has attempted to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom time and time again, and has done some frankly terrible things. All Luigi has done was help Mario thwart King Dad almost every single time." Lemmy huffed, "When you compare what Dad has done to what Luigi has done, do you really think the cowardly and frail green plumber would play dirty like that?"

Larry froze, his mind unable to come up with a retort, "U-Uhh…" All he could do was stammer a little before Lemmy continued, "Besides, even if he has done morally questionable things, I know he wouldn't do that, because…"Lemmy trailed off as his face slowly fell. Larry waited for Lemmy to finish, but after a tense moment of silence, he got himself together and broke his stunned silence, "Because… what?" Lemmy hung his head a little and softened his tone, "After telling him everything, I was crying by the end of it, and Luigi, he… comforted me…" Larry just sat there dumbfounded, "H-Huh!?" Lemmy looked back up at him, "I know, I was shocked too. But… even though we were enemies, when he embraced me, I felt… relieved…"

"R… Relieved?" Larry was having a lot of trouble believing it, how could this possibly be? Lemmy nodded, "Yeah, and the craziest part was that… after everything I told him, he placed a hand on my shoulder and said he supports me… he wants to help me…" Larry shook his head vigorously, "No no no, you're NOT serious! Him!? Help YOU of all people? Why in World 8 would Shivery Scaredy Greeny ever decide to up and help his enemy? This has to be a trick!"

Lemmy was starting to get annoyed by Larry's stubbornness, "It was not a trick, Larry! I saw it in his eyes, he genuinely wants to help me!" Larry scoffed, "You don't know that for sure! He could've been lying just to find out your weaknesses!" Lemmy crossed his arms assertively, "Well I know he wasn't, I can tell he was being genuine. There's no if's or but's about it."

Larry then jabbed at the small koopa's chest again, "Well, what makes you so confident then? What's to say you weren't so desperate for help that it clouded your judgment?" Lemmy's face turned into an angry look. While Lemmy knew he wasn't trying to, it still felt like Larry was dismissing his major step forward in his problems. As such, he snapped, "Oh for lumas sake will you be quiet and just toss your negative bias away from him for a second!?" Larry was caught a bit off guard by Lemmy suddenly raising his voice a little, it caused him to flinch and clamp his mouth shut. Now that Lemmy had shut him up, he scoffed with an unamused face, "Larry, I'm a professional performer, I can tell when someone is lying. I know for sure that Luigi wasn't. If he was, I would've spotted his bluff."

Lemmy took a deep breath and calmed down before lowering his voice back to as if they were in a library, "He even promised that he would keep it a secret for me, all of it. Both about my problems and our conversation. I didn't even have to ask him either. He was fully aware just how serious this was and didn't want to cause me more stress." Larry wanted to speak up against that, but he felt like he probably shouldn't because right now, Lemmy made it clear that he wanted him to stop. So instead, he slowly and cautiously decided to play along, "What happened next…?"

"Well, after I finally stopped being sad, we took our places to start our battle." Lemmy then scratched his head awkwardly, "At least, we tried to." Larry raised a brow, "Tried to?" Lemmy nodded, "I was so unfocused that I couldn't even summon a single bouncy bomb. Luigi was also struggling to get into his battle ready stance. I don't really blame him, after that emotional moment I had, neither of us wanted to fight, nobody wanted to make the first move."

Larry, tilted his head a little, still looking nervous, "And so… you just… gave him the key instead?" Lemmy looked into Larry's eyes with a firm, but soft tone, "He was hesitant to accept it, but I insisted he take it. I mean, after comforting me and showing his support for me, I felt like I had to repay him somehow." Larry shook his head a little, as if he wasn't sure he heard correctly, "Wait, he was unsure about actually taking it?" Lemmy nodded before going on in a rambling sense, "Yeah, he was saying that he can't or that he shouldn't." Larry leaned in a little, looking a bit intrigued, "Really?"

"Mhm. He didn't want to take the key immediately, he didn't want me getting in trouble after what he did for me." Larry, visibly tensed, "And it's massive trouble that you will get! If King Dad finds out what you did, he'll freak!" Looking at Larry, Lemmy could see a look of fear in his eyes and his face looking a little pale. Seeing this, he wanted to reassure him, "Which was why I came up with a plan to make sure that he didn't."

Larry froze as he started to piece it together, "Wait, so… that's why you…" Lemmy nodded as he saw where he was going with it, "After Luigi took the key and left, I went ahead and summoned a small bouncy bomb, and had it blow up on me." Larry tilted his head a little, "And you didn't get hurt? How close were you standing to it?"

"I was standing close, but not too close as I didn't want to get hurt badly. The explosion did knock me to the floor and it did cover me in soot, but that was it, no actual wounds or injuries." Lemmy turned his eyes away from Larry and shrugged a little, "Admittedly, I was hoping to get at least a scratch or two, but that was good enough. I did all that so Kamek wouldn't get suspicious, and since a bunch of you guys saw me at the landing dock and also fell for my little handy work, King Dad is not going to question it one bit." Larry, while still tense, nodded in agreement, "I'll say, even though it's pretty hard for you to slide by me, I totally believed it…" Lemmy nodded and smiled, "Yeah, that's how I know I got away with it."

Larry slowly sat back down on his bed, nervously fidgeting with his hands. After a moment of tense silence, Larry looked up at him with sad eyes, "But… Why? Why are you telling me all this?" Lemmy's face fell as he looked down at his feet, "Well… I told you all this because… well… Luigi gave me some advice on how to better cope with this whole Koopa Troop thing." He sighed as he gloomily looked up at Larry and made eye contact with him, "He said that I should have one on one conversations with those who know about my problems, and that I should talk about them regularly." Lemmy hung his head again, "And the only ones who know are you and Luigi, so..."

Lemmy sighed, "If I was going to talk to you about my issues more, then I would have to tell you this because there was no way I could hide this from you. If I just started talking to you about it out of the blue, you definitely would've noticed something was up. So instead of trying to hide it, I'm telling you right away."

Lemmy then looked back up at him with sad eyes, made eye contact, and spoke softly, "That, and because I trust you. You deserve to know what's going on." Larry stared at him with the same sad expression Lemmy had. Even though he already knew that they were very close, hearing him say that really touched him deep down. After sniffling a little, Larry exhaled before asking, "So… you're doing this to cope better with being in the Koopa Troop?"

Lemmy nodded before he hung his head again. "Yeah, also so I can be more comfortable talking about it and… to build more confidence." Larry's curiosity piqued, "Confidence? For what?" Lemmy stayed silent for a few moments before he finally responded, "Well, this is only an idea that I don't have to go through with, but…" Lemmy pressed his pointer fingers together awkwardly, "Maybe at some point… I could…" Larry was starting to feel uneasy again, so he asked him cautiously, "Could… what?" Lemmy took a deep breath and looked back up at Larry and finally said the words, "... tell King Dad about my problems…"

Larry's eyes widened with fear, "What!? Are you insane?! Lemmy you're not actually going to…! You w-wouldn't…" Lemmy cut him off with a sigh as he looked back down at his feet, "I'm tired, Larry. Tired of doing these villainous deeds, tired of these daily jobs, tired of the Koopa Troop, tired of all the guilt I bear from it. I'm tired of it all…" Lemmy looked back up at Larry with a pained look, "I'm desperate for change… I'm desperate enough to open up to Luigi of all people, any chance that can help me even a little, I will take it. I want out…"

"But, Lemmy! Do you realize how bad of an idea that is!? If he takes it the wrong way, who knows what will happen!" Lemmy could see him shaking and his face looking even paler than before. He wasn't surprised, Larry has always been protective over him, and it's those instincts kicking in, he was scared for him and they both knew it. Despite this, Lemmy continued, "I realize that, Larry. If I do decide to tell him, I want to be absolutely ready first. Talking to you and possibly Luigi about my issues regularly could really help me here. Or I can choose not to tell him at all. Either way, I want to at least be more comfortable because to be honest… I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

Larry got up from his bed and embraced his brother, "Lemmy, I…" Lemmy could feel him shaking a little and wanted to calm him down, "Larry, I know you're scared. But if we want things to change… then I might have to." When Lemmy looked up at him, he could see that Larry was on the verge of tears, "N… No… Lemmy… Don't do this, please!" Seeing how distraught he was, Lemmy hugged him, "Shh… it's okay Larry. With you being here for me and others willing to help me, I might not have to. He doesn't have to know about this."

Larry pulled away to look at him, "But what about Luigi? You're seriously trusting him with this? Do you even know just how risky that is?" Lemmy looked at him with sympathy, "I am very aware of that. But at this point, I would do almost anything. I know you don't trust him, but…" Lemmy could see tears were starting to form in Larry's eyes as he stared back at him, shaking in fear.

Lemmy gently grabbed his hand and pulled him over to his bed, Larry gently sat down on Lemmy's yellow blanket, turning his eyes away from him, he could see the orange star pattern on it much like his ball.

Lemmy got up into a kneeling position next to him, "Luigi is willing to help me, he genuinely wants me to succeed in this, and I'm allowed to ask him if I need anything, he's entirely serious about this. I understand you don't fancy the idea of Luigi knowing about my problems, but…" Lemmy gripped his hand as he looked up at him, "I want you to at least give him a chance first." He gently squeezed his hand a little tighter and looked at him with hopeful eyes, "Can you trust me with this?" Larry looked back up at him, he still felt very conflicted inside.

On the one hand, the fact he told Luigi really makes him unhappy, not as in anger, but in fear and sadness. He was so scared that something bad would come out of this, because now he was relying on Luigi, an enemy that they grew up seeing him as such, to keep his word and not tell anyone.

But on the other hand, Larry was fully aware of how much of a toll Lemmy's role in the Koopa Troop takes on him. He has spent years watching him having to put up with it, flaring up as the daily tasks build up whenever preparations are made for a kidnapping mission. All to the point where on occasion, Lemmy would let out his emotions and break down in tears once they returned to their room following a kidnapping announcement. So seeing him actually open up to someone that could potentially help him after years of being stuck offered Larry some solace.

Lemmy was someone who had effectively raised him since birth and Larry would protect him with his life. So he really hoped that Lemmy knew what he was doing and just how massively risky this is. But even so, Larry had already made up his mind, "I…" Larry took in a shaky breath before exhaling, "I'll… try." His voice was shaking as much as he was. He looked down at his dangling feet before he swallowed hard and regained his composure a little, "But just know that this can go horribly wrong… I really hope you know what you're doing, Lemmy…"

"Larry…" Lemmy placed a hand on Larry's chin and turned his head to look at him. Larry still had tears in his eyes and looked incredibly stressed out. Lemmy couldn't stand seeing him like this, it made him feel sad as well. Upon making eye contact with him, he took a deep breath and sighed, "When it comes to the whole Princess kidnapping and saving her dynamic, we do what we can to gain an advantage over the enemy, like it's some kind of game that we all play in. And we do this over and over again, and will continue to do so. But when there are issues as deep as this…" Lemmy gives a sincere look into Larry's eyes, "That is when it stops being a game."

After a couple moments of silence, Larry couldn't take it anymore. A sob escaped from his mouth as he tightly hugged Lemmy, refusing to let go of him, "Lemmy, I'm scared..." Lemmy hugged him back, gently patting him to calm him down, "I know, Larry, I'm scared too." Lemmy pulled away from him a little before he gently placed a hand on Larry's cheek and looked at him with very soft and understanding eyes, "But I'm doing this because I have hope, hope that this will work where not only me, but maybe all of us won't have to keep living like this." Lemmy sniffled a little as his other hand tightened its grip on Larry's, "But I can't do it alone. I need all the help I can get, and while it may not sound ideal, having Luigi on my side is better than nothing."

He then slowly lowered his hand from Larry's face, "I know you would do anything to help me and have done so much for me, it's why I've lasted this long. But I'm reaching my breaking point." He looked down as he placed his other hand on top of Larry's and held him between his small hands. Lemmy then looked back up at him, "But please, Larry, I want you to answer me honestly… Are you happy that I'm making progress?" Larry swallowed hard as he looked down at Lemmy's hands gripping his, he took a deep breath before he looked back up at him. He couldn't speak, all he could do was slowly and silently nod.

After staring at each other for a couple more moments, Larry pulled him back in and just held him, trying his hardest not to completely break down. Lemmy could see this as he hugged him back and so he gently stroked him, "There, there... It's okay, Larry… It will all be okay…" Larry was not entirely sure about that part. After all, he was terrified of what might happen to Lemmy if this goes wrong. But even so, he was willing to take his word for it because he sincerely hoped he thought this through.

After a few minutes, they finally separated, Larry had stopped crying and Lemmy wanted to change the subject to brighten up the mood. He tried to force up his cheery face, but was struggling to do so, "So, Larry, do you want to do something?" Larry took a moment to respond, "W… What do you have in mind?" Lemmy placed a thoughtful hand on his chin, "Wanna play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?" Larry looked down a little before looking back up at him a moment later, "S… Sure."

Larry also attempted to lighten his face a little and try to enact the playful banter they usually have, "You going to keep maining yourself?" Lemmy smirked, "Are you?" Despite what Larry was feeling, he couldn't help but snicker, "You can get the switch set up. I'll catch up with you in a minute."

Lemmy smiled as he got off his bed and walked out the door. After closing the door, Lemmy frowned, he could tell that Larry was still unhappy. But he still went off towards the lounge, hoping that a gaming session could help both of them with a distraction.

Once Lemmy was out of sight, Larry could finally let his true emotions show. His smile disappeared as his face returned back to that of worry.

He swallowed hard as he got up off Lemmy's bed and walked over to their closet to look himself in their mirror. There, he saw that his face was as white as a boo and sweating bullet-bills, not surprising considering how scared he was. Knowing what Lemmy had done, he was incredibly tense and on edge. While he was happy Lemmy finally got someone else to show their support for him, he wasn't happy with the fact that it was Luigi of all people. Understandable considering that Larry did not trust him one bit.

Now that he knew that plumber had such powerful information over Lemmy in his hands, Larry felt so sick that he felt like he might puke out all the food from last week. But that was nothing compared to how absolutely terrified he was for Lemmy. He had an awful gut feeling that this might go horribly wrong, and he sincerely hoped that he was wrong about Luigi's possible ill-intentions, "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Ooh, I'd hate to be Larry right now, all stressed out and everything.

Seriously, I really need to stop making these chapters so big, because this chapter ended up being way longer than I expected, now standing as the new longest chapter in this story at over 4300 words. But then again, this is one of the more important chapters in this story.

As I stated in the previous author's note, I was working on this chapter at the same time as the previous one. I originally had Lemmy's reminiscence end with Larry walking into the bedroom followed by this chapter, and Lemmy heading off to see Peach afterward. But after some contemplation, I switched places with "A Gardening Gift" to retain the lightheartedness for a little longer before diving back into serious territory.

As for the next chapter, it's technically already finished and has been for months thanks to a habit of mine where I write certain chapters out of order. But since I've written a lot in the previous chapters, I'm going to revise most of it or just completely rewrite it to make it fit better. Fortunately, since all I need to do is change it up a lot, I have the base already outlined, so this shouldn't take longer than a week. I say week because there's always the chance me procrastin- I mean taking a break!

Speaking of breaks, I might choose to slow down for a day or two because I spent most of today and yesterday really grinding this long chapter, I don't want to get burned out and stop for months again.

Anyway, that's it for now, maybe I'll go and join those two in some karting.