Chapter 22 Too Old to Dream

Walking back to the castle once again oriented Shellock to how tired he was. He was so tired he could hallucinate, so exhausted that collapsing seemed like a viable, appealing option. He rubbed his eyes, and yawned like a cat. He smiled when he saw the castle, thanking his lucky stars. It was fortunate that things were going his way. As a master detective, he knew that things working out was a pipe dream more often than not. So… well, he would appreciate his quick return to the castle and the opportunity to get some rest.

Walking into the door, Shellock yawned once again. Rubbing his eyes, he made his way toward his room, feeling as though he had the same cognitive function as a zombie. He passed by several people, but they didn't pay Shellock any mind.

At least, this was the case until one of the Koopalings saw him. "Oh! Lemmy!" Wendy exclaimed. She came over to Shellock, still battling the urge to collapse to the floor. "I'm so glad you're back!"

Shellock sniffed. "As am I, dear girl. As am I."

Wendy froze. She stared at Shellock with wide eyes, her jaw hanging open. Shellock raised an eyebrow at her. "Is everything okay?"

Wendy wiped some sweat off her brow. "Uh… yeah. Everything's… good." She forced on a smile. "Did you solve the mysteries?"

"I solved one of them," Shellock replied, battling the urge to yawn even more.

"Really? That's awesome!" Wendy's eyes glittered. "That's actually a really big relief!"

"Yes. Indeed." Shellock pursed his lips. "Now, I'm sure the Koopalings can rest easy."

"That's the hope," Wendy said with a chuckle. She patted Shellock on the shoulder, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "You gonna go to sleep?"

"I am. And then I will get right back into trying to solve the other mystery." He sighed. "If I had my way though, I wouldn't stop for anything. I would only take the time to rest once I know for absolute certain that everything will be okay."

Wendy chuckled again. "If that's the case, then you would never sleep." She patted Shellock on the shoulder again. "Just… well, I know for a fact that you already did a good job. You deserve a chance to sleep. You deserve a chance to recuperate."

Shellock paused. "Thank you, Wendy." With one last tip of his hat, he resumed his walk through the castle. The walk up the stairs was easily the worst part of the journey. It took all the effort Shellock had to walk up there, and when he got to the top, he had to stop and catch his breath. Seriously, how much energy had he expended over the course of last night?

Well, that was neither here nor there. Shellock continued on his journey to his room, letting out a breath of relief when he got to the door. He opened it slowly and carefully, hearing Ludwig's snoring as soon as he entered. As he closed the door, he looked at his older brother snoozing away. Last night was probably hard on him too. Hell, last night was probably hard on all of them. Not knowing what would become of Roy and Celia, having no clue what the deal behind the phantoms was… it was a miracle none of them had lost their minds.

With one more gigantic yawn, Shellock made his way over to his bed. He removed his hat and placed it on his bedside table, feeling a sense of peace come over him as he got into bed and pulled the covers over him. "Aww!" he breathed out. He smiled as he looked up at the ceiling, once again counting his lucky stars. "Well, Shellock, I think now is the time to rest."

He closed his eyes. The last thought he had before drifting off to sleep was wondering whether or not he could solve the mystery of the phantoms. Maybe Tillie was right; maybe solving this case would help the amazing detective approach this best.

…

Lemmy blinked. Lying in front of him was a tool that he had used time and time again, a toy that he would play with nonstop for hours on end. That being, his yellow circus ball with the orange stars. It just lay there, in a room surrounded by all sorts of different toys. Each one of them looked fun in their own right, but there was something that stood out about his ball. Something special, something unworthy of being ignored. It was like it was calling to him, tempting him with his eyes and promising him everything good. "Come play with me!" it said. "Come have fun with me!"

A smile grew on the Koopaling's face. He couldn't not play with the ball. It was his circus ball! It was such a big part of who he was. It helped him decide what roads he wanted to go down over the course of his life, and it had done so while being present and fun.

So, he ran over to the ball. He gave it a quick hug before jumping onto it. It took a little bit, but he managed to find his balance. Once he did, he felt invincible. He felt like he could conquer the world. His problems were mere anthills, his future bright and promising. Right now, it didn't really matter what was going wrong. All that mattered was the here and now, where he was happy and gleeful.

He began rolling around the room, producing a storm of laughter as he did. At a few points, he jumped on the ball, did a flip, and landed on his hands. It was easy to do; it was much easier than the task usually was, now that he thought about it. He giggled some more, looking at the other toys he passed by while rolling around. They couldn't even hope to be as fun as his circus ball. They might as well not even be there, for who in their right mind would want to play with such milquetoast dolls and action figures when they had access to a circus ball?

The answer was no one, a thought that made Lemmy'a laughter pick up even more. Instead of rolling, he bounced. He bounced around the perimeter of the room, reaching higher heights the more he did. At one point, he steered the ball toward the middle of the room. He bounced once, then twice. When he bounced the third time, he went so high that he was able to touch the ceiling with his fingers. Then, he came falling down. But it wasn't a scary fall; in fact, it felt kind of good when he landed on the plush carpet. Laughing, he looked over at his ball. His smile was infectious.

"I don't care what anyone says," he said as he pulled the ball closer. "I am never gonna stop loving you."

Right at that moment, a door that Lemmy had failed to notice before opened. Little kids came charging into the room, laughing as they made a beeline for the toys. Lemmy sat up, grinning when he saw them. Oh, this just kept getting better and better!

"Hey, kiddos!" he said. He stood up. "Would you guys like to play with me?"

"Why would they do that?"

Lemmy blinked, noticing an adult koopa troopa coming into the room. If Lemmy were to guess, he would say that this person was the kids' teacher. They slowly closed the door, their eyes never once leaving Lemmy. Their gaze… no words in Lemmy's lexicon could convey how it made him feel.

Cautiously, he got up and stepped over to the teacher. The giggles of the little kids faded away the closer he got to this person. "Uh… um… it'd be fun, wouldn't it be?"

The teacher squinted at him. "You can't play with them."

"Why?" When that word came out of Lemmy's mouth, so did a good portion of his teeth. Gasping, he put his hand to his mouth, staring in horror as his teeth landed on the carpet and turned yellow and brown.

"You know why."

Tears sprang up in Lemmy's eyes. He actually did know the teacher's reasoning, and he hated that he did. He hated that it had to be this way. He started to cry, looking over at the little kids as they played pretend with the various toys in the classroom.

"But… I want to have fun…" Lemmy didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence, as he noticed something that caused horror to shoot through his mind and body. His voice sounded so… old. It wasn't the high-pitched, melodic voice Lemmy was known for, but rather, a gravelly, raspy tone that was so commonly heard in nursing homes. Lemmy put his hand to his throat, noticing in horror what was actually happening to his hand. Wrinkle upon wrinkle made itself known. His hand shriveling like a raisin, he was able to see his knuckles more easily than he ever had prior to this moment.

"No!" he cried, wanting to cry all over again when hearing his new voice again.

"Your time is ending, Lemonade." The door opened, and in walked two other people. In between them was a wheelchair, which made Lemmy's eyes grow wide.

"NO!" He backed away from that horrid, horrid chair. "No! It's not my time! I'm not ready!"

One of the people, a bandit, approached him while wheeling the chair closer to him. "Come on. We're taking you to the retirement home."

"NO!" By now, Lemmy had devolved into a crying fit. "I don't belong there! I don't…" Both of the people pounced on him, grabbing hold of both of his arms. Gasping, he struggled and kicked against their hold. Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the stronger their grip became.

"PLEASE!" he cried. "Let me go! I'm not the person you're looking for!"

With minimal effort on the bandit and Koopa's parts, they put him in the wheelchair. As if to add insult to injury, they strapped him in with binds. Lemmy tried to fight against the binds. Even though he was the weakest of the Koopalings, he could still break through the binds if he used enough effort. Unfortunately, these binds didn't break, snap, or even budge.

"PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!" Lemmy still struggled as the wheelchair was wheeled out of the room into what appeared to be a dark void. Feeling desperate, Lemmy looked back at the stony-eyed teacher, hoping to appeal to their sense of empathy. "I'm just a kid! I don't belong in a retirement home! I'm just a kid!"

The teacher didn't respond. They just put their hand on the doorknob and slowly closed it. Lemmy felt like his whole world was falling apart.

"PLEASE! PLEASE! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU CAN'T!"

Click. The door was closed, meaning the only things Lemmy could see were his two captors and the dark, empty nothing that surrounded them. Lemmy cried like he never had before, cried as though he had just lost a limb. The bandit stared at him, their face as expressionless as it was haunting.

"Your time is up, Lemonade." They started tipping the wheelchair forward. "Say good night."

Lemmy gasped as his binds disappeared, all at once wishing that they were still there. He backed away from the edge of the chair. He tried protesting, but his voice was too weak. Hell, his muscles were too weak too; he could barely move as he got pushed closer and closer.

And then… he fell.

"AHH!" Lemmy screamed as he plummeted. His whole life flashed before his eyes, particularly his childhood. As he got enveloped by the nothing, he closed his eyes and shed a tear. It uselessly sailed into the empty, cold void.

…

"GASP!" Shellock bolted upright, his chest rising and falling as he attempted in vain to get his breathing under control. He put his hand to his chest, his heart racing. On the other side of the room, Ludwig stirred and sat up in bed.

"Lemmy? Is everything alright?"

Shellock hyperventilated some more before looking down at his hands. Still smooth, not bony or wrinkled. He closed his eyes, shuddering as he recalled the dream. As he recalled the teacher. As he recalled the bandit.

"I'm fine, Ludwig." He pushed the comforter back and stood up. "Everything is fine."

"Okay. Good." Once he finished saying that, Ludwig got out of bed himself and gave Shellock a glare. "Why didn't you answer any of my messages?"

Shellock blinked. "Messages?"

"Yeah!" Ludwig approached him. "I texted you at least ten times this morning! Why didn't you respond; I was getting worried!"

Shellock's heart sank. "I… I see." Remorse and shame came over him before he cleared his throat and pushed them away. "I apologize for that; I was in the middle of solving the mysteries." He smiled. "And, thankfully, I managed to do so."

Ludwig's eyes grew wide. "Really? You solved the mysteries?"

"One of them, but yes, I did." Shellock continued to grin. "I even found the starbit ring that was taken from Celia." He reached into his pocket. "We can bring it back to her in the hospital and…"

He stopped as he felt the bottom of his pocket. His eyes growing wide, he searched around in there. "No," he whispered. He searched some more before looking in his other pocket. He started to sweat. "No! This can't be!"

"What can't be?"

Shellock felt like hyperventilating all over again. "The ring isn't here!"