DISCLAIMER! If you read the previous chapter before early September 2024, go back and read it again as I have completely revised it. Otherwise the context of this chapter would not make sense!

Don't worry, this is the last disclaimer regarding this, wanted to put it there just in case you're coming back from sometime beforehand. This is what happens when you have poor hindsight and upload a chapter that gets you stuck for four months before finally revising it to break free.

Oh, before I start the chapter:

ANOTHER DISCLAIMER! This chapter has a scary scene in it!

...

Okay fine... I'll put away the bullhorn for now. Just thought I'd warn you about it. Anyway, enjoy!


Despite the wall torches being bright, the floor was very cold and dim, he could barely see anything a few feet in front of him. "Why on earth was I assigned to this task again? Has King Dad forgotten about what happened last time? Moreover, why in the middle of the night of all times of the day?"

Whatever, might as well do it quickly. Or rather, as quickly as he could manage while it's near pitch black, how can you see the dust? But again, whatever.

After Lemmy spent what felt like hours sweeping the halls, he felt his usual cheery mood slowly drain out in him, getting worse the longer he was down there. Makes sense as this dungeon was anything but pleasant. But Lemmy didn't care all that much, all he wanted to do right now is get this done and over with and finally go to bed.

After returning to the door leading upstairs, he grabbed the keys and made his way to the cells. Walking to the left most hallway from the door, he was greeted by a row with five cells on each side. He walked over to the cell labeled with a "1" and unlocked it before proceeding to give it a quick sweep.

After finishing cell #5, he walked across to cell #10 and swept down to cell #6 before finally finishing the first set of cells. Lemmy walked over to the adjacent hallway and started on cell #11, over to #15, then #20 and back down to #16. Second set finished. He walked to the door and turned left into the third set in the middle of the floor and got started on the next set of ten cells.

Despite spending almost two hours sweeping out all the rooms, halls and each cell, one by one, Lemmy didn't let the fatigue get to him. Last thing he wanted was to fall asleep down here. It was mid winter and freezing, he'd likely catch a really bad cold if he did. That, and likely get a scolding from his father for sleeping on the job. During the sweeping of some cells, he heard what sounded like blowing and rattling, "Probably just the wind."

What wasn't was the occasional spider Lemmy came across, looking big and intimidating. Lemmy would just ignore that cell and skip it. "Uh, no thank you!"

Finally, he was on the fifth and final set of cells at cell #41. Finishing cell #45, he flipped to the cell directly across from it, cell #50, only a few more left. Then Lemmy stood in front of cell #46, the last one that needed to be done. Just as he placed the keys in the keyhole, he realized he didn't have his broom with him, "Did I seriously forget to grab it again?" Lemmy went back to the previous cell he swept, cell #47, and there it was leaning against the wall furthest from the door and barely visible in the darkness. Sighing, Lemmy walks over to the broom to get started on the final cell.

But just as he reached for it, he felt a particularly strong gust of wind, one with a majorly biting chill to it that caused the little koopaling to shiver. "So… cold… Come on… pull it together Lemmy, you're almost done… just ignore the chill and the creaking and you'll be fine…. Wait… creaking?" Too cold to move quickly, he wondered what it could be, "What could possibly-..." Lemmy's eyes widened as he realized, "Oh no… No, not again!" Lemmy whips around to see the cell door starting to close behind him. He darted for the door, but it slammed shut before he could reach it.

Lemmy tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge, all he could do was rattle the large metal rusty barred door in its place. He instinctively reached for his keys in his hammerspace, but they weren't in there. Then he remembered where he left them, in the keyhole of the next cell he was about to clean. That was when a horrible realization dawned on him, he was locked in.

"No… NO!"

Lemmy grabbed the broom and banged on the old rusty bars and shouted, "HELP! HELP ME! SOMEBODY!" Nobody was responding. He eventually smacked too hard and the old wooden broom broke. Seeing this, Lemmy swiftly pulled out his wand and used that instead, "I'M TRAPPED! LET ME OUT!" Still nobody was responding. Nevertheless, he kept going for what felt like ages.

Eventually, the extreme fatigue caught up with him. A combination of being up in the middle of the night without any sleep, the freezing cold winter night, and the constant exerting of his small body and frantic shouting for someone, anyone to come and help him. It all caused him to feel dizzy and stumble backward as he dropped his wand.

Upon stopping the banging and shouting, Lemmy could hear the wind intensifying. The doors of the other cells somehow opened and started slamming shut and repeating that over and over again as the faint wall torches started to flicker and intensify, gradually dimming as they did.

The intense noise, flickering lights and the freezing cold wind made Lemmy's dizziness and anxiety intensify, his vision becoming jittery. His legs trembled before he collapsed onto the ice cold floor. Said floor was as cold as the literal ice floor in his tower in World 3.

Lemmy tried to get up, but he struggled to move. He was so tired and disoriented by everything happening around him. Not only that, he was freezing to the point where he can see his breath form a mist even in the near pitch blackness of the dungeon at this point. He tried to fight it, but it was futile. The cold air and the equally cold floor made him shiver violently, so much so that he couldn't even use his fire breath to warm himself up.

Feeling the cold slowly consume him, he knew that if he passed out here, he would never wake up. The thought terrified him. Now that he could no longer move, he knew it was only a matter of time before it would finally happen.

Tears began to well up in the child's eyes, clouding his already fading vision as the slamming started to blend together, the ringing in his ears so loud that it hurt. Lemmy started to feel the utter hopelessness of the reality he was facing. He was doomed, who would come down here at all, let alone in the middle of the night? The worst part was not the fact he was locked in a dark and cold cell in the middle of the winter night, it was the fact he was going to die. All alone, and not be found for a long time.

"Not like this… I'm just a child… Please… No…"

But as he was coming to terms with this horrible fate, through the noise of the smashing doors, he heard the sound of something strange. "Is that… crawling?" And he would discover what the source was. On the wall he was facing, he could see a large black spider slowly crawling down to the floor. It had a black and shiny body with thin legs and was almost as large as him.

Even though Lemmy could barely process it, his eyes widened as he was paralyzed with fear. Even more so than the other factors keeping him from moving. His anxiety went into overdrive as the giant arachnid slowly approached the little koopaling. He panicked as his vision blurred even more, the ringing in his ears getting louder.

"No, not like this! I'm too young to be eaten! NOT LIKE THIS! HELP ME!"

But he still couldn't move, he now lost his ability to even breathe. Everything was going dark. This was it.

This was the end of Lemmy Koopa.

"H… Help… me…"

Suddenly able to move again, Lemmy shot up, barely suppressing a scream with a loud gasp in its place. His eyes wide open and sweating bullet bills, his heart rate and breathing much faster than normal. Looking around frantically, he saw that he was back in his room on his bed. He looked at the bedside clock to see that it was almost two in the morning.

Past the bedside table was Larry, wearing the same light blue Super Bell induced cat onesie he wears every night, lying asleep in his bed next to Lemmy's.

Looking back to his own bed, Lemmy could see the yellow blanket with the orange star pattern on it matching his circus ball. He looked down at himself and he was back in his vibrant orange cat onesie pajamas via his own Super Bell. He could see that his hands- er… paws… were trembling as much as the rest of his small body was.

Lemmy could feel something trickling down his cheek, when he felt the area under his eye, it was wet. He was crying. At the same time, he thought back to what he saw and how he felt, from the extreme cold to the flickering darkness and the pure isolation. Lemmy's lip started to quiver as he looked down, he pulled his legs in and held them tightly. Unable to hold it in any longer, he gently buried his head into the orange fur of his pajamas and started to sob quietly.

He wasn't sure how long he had been doing it for. But he was eventually interrupted when he heard movement from the bed next to his.

"Lemmy…?"

The voice was a mumble, very tired, but filled with concern. Lemmy stopped crying and looked up to see his younger brother Larry looking at him with tired but worried eyes, "Are you… crying?"

And with the possibility of lying thrown out, Lemmy nodded while stifling another sob, "Uh huh… I had a nightmare…" His voice was shaking badly.

Larry looked at Lemmy, evidently feeling sorry for him, "About what?" Larry asked tentatively.

With a sob escaping Lemmy's mouth, all he could do was barely utter a squeak, "Dungeon…"

Immediately upon hearing that, Larry let out a quiet gasp as his eyes widened, obviously looking a little horrified, "You're serious Lem?" A sniffle and a nod from Lemmy, was all the confirmation he needed, "This is the second night in a row…" He muttered to himself. The youngest koopaling got the message instantly and didn't hesitate. Larry took off his covers, "I'm coming Lem." He got up from his bed and climbed onto Lemmy's.

After doing so, Lemmy crawled onto him and hugged him tightly, letting his tears flow. Larry returned the gesture, he held his smaller brother as close to himself as he could. After a couple minutes in silence, the two of them lay down and tuck themselves in, staying close to each other.

"How bad was it this time?" Larry asked quietly.

"It was the scariest one yet…" Lemmy whispered, stifling a sob, "I'd tell you what I saw, but right now…" He buried his face into Larry, tightly clutching onto the fur of his brother's onesie and refused to let go of him, "I just wanna be held…" He whimpered, shutting his eyes tightly.

Larry pulled Lemmy in and hugged him like a teddy bear, ensuring his smaller brother that he was safe now, "I'm here Lemmy…" He rests his head against his, struggling to not cry himself over the rough moment his brother was going through, "You're safe with me…" Lemmy did indeed feel safer with him. The little koopaling started to rapidly calm down and relax now that he was in his brother's loving arms. All acting as a sort of solace from the terrifying experience he just had.

After a few minutes passed, Lemmy noticed that while Larry had fallen back asleep, his grip on him was still strong. Which made Lemmy feel like he had a sort of safety net under him. This allowed him to finally calm down a little, enough for him to feel comfortable again. Gradually, his tears stopped flowing and disappeared either due to being wiped away or drying up on their own. Staying close to Larry and feeling the warmth from him and the blanket, Lemmy was able to slowly drift back to sleep in his arms.

The next day, Lemmy couldn't stop thinking about the nightmare he had last night. He walked down various hallways until he stopped. Normally this is where he would detour, but not this time. Taking a deep breath, he walked down a few more halls and eventually found it. There at the corner where the hallways turn, the door leading down to the infamous dungeon floor stood closed and motionless, almost as frozen in time as the centuries old abyss contained within. The door was made of a dark brown wood, faded and weathered with age. It had an old rusted handle and a rounded cobblestone frame surrounding it.

Even though Lemmy had three weeks to recover and that he was able to recover enough to get back to his normal duties, he recalled just how difficult the recovery period was. His mind couldn't stop thinking back to how he could've been left to rot down there without anyone being aware of it, and just that fact alone was enough to keep Lemmy awake at night. If it didn't, then the terrifying nightmares definitely would.

Lemmy recalled how every night for those three weeks and a bit beyond it, he slept with Larry since he was too scared to sleep alone. Plus, doing so reduced the chances of having a nightmare about it. Everytime he had one, Larry never hesitated to bring him comfort, which was a plus to sharing a room with him.

As strict as Kamek was, Lemmy couldn't deny just how careful and gentle he was in helping the kid through a dark period in his life. From calming and relaxing breathing exercises and meditation, to creating pleasant and comforting environments, and in some extreme cases, medications were temporarily prescribed to him to combat his anxiety attacks and hallucinations regarding the incident.

He remembered having to carry that stupid pill bottle everywhere he went, he was so glad to finally get rid of it when he didn't need to take those pills anymore. All it did was remind him of what happened down there every time he so much as felt it move around in his hammerspace.

As for calming environments, the ones provided were quite nice. Like basking in the sun in the garden next to a patch of Azure Dreamblooms. In hindsight, Lemmy sort of regretted not potting one and keeping it in his room. If his anxiety ever flared up, he could've just set the pot on the bedside table and relaxed next to it. Would've been way better than taking those pills every day.

But all things considered, Lemmy already had a pleasant environment he could retreat to, that being the lone tree on the hill in World 1, which was a big help through this difficult time. Albeit, the autumn air was a bit chilly on most days, so he gladly took the castle garden as a solid alternative.

It had been months, and he had since made a near full recovery. All to the point where he can go many weeks without even a passing thought of what happened. Not counting the times he detoured around this part of the castle of course. Speaking of which, even though it's been months, just looking at that door was enough to make Lemmy shiver.

This was the first time he had seen it since the incident. No, this was the first time he was even in this older part of the castle at all since then. He was shaken so much by what happened that he hadn't set foot over here at all because of it. Since there were many different routes to take in the castle, the little koopaling would always opt to detour around this particular area. After all, the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" existed for a reason.

And it has worked for the most part. Until you count the nightmares and the occasional passing memory of what happened. Everytime he remembered it, it would instantly wipe whatever smile was on his face at the time, even if for a moment. To Bowser's credit, he had not given Lemmy any duties in this particular area since what happened. Knowing full well how the boy felt about even being near it. All things considered, Lemmy had largely moved on from it, but he still couldn't deny the impact it still has on him today.

All that changed when Lemmy opened up to Luigi about it the other day. It was the first time in months he had largely thought about the events of that day. After Luigi had told him an idea that could possibly help him overcome his trauma, the kid had given it plenty of thought in the last few days. He couldn't stop thinking about it and by extension, the trauma itself.

With how dreams worked, him giving the incident more thought was what allowed those nightmares to come back more frequently and frighteningly, like the one he had last night and the one before that. Normally it wouldn't have been so bad like the odd one he had every now and then over the last several months. But this was different, this was on the level as the ones he had back during recovery.

While Lemmy was relieved it was just a nightmare, it didn't change the fact he was really shaken up by it. Sure, this wasn't the first time he had a nightmare about what happened in the dungeon, and it happens very rarely. But the one from last night was by far the most terrifying one he had in months, enough that it shook poor Lemmy to his core.

Even worse was that this was the first time since the three weeks he spent recovering from the incident, where he had back-to-back nightmares of it. Likely having to do with Lemmy opening up to Luigi about it, along with the green plumber pitching an idea on how he could potentially overcome his trauma.

If his adversarial bias against the plumber had a say, Lemmy would've fully blamed Luigi for it. However, Lemmy was fully aware that he himself was the one who brought it up originally, so the return of these nightmares was kind of his own fault. But even so, there was no bias in him, Lemmy knew that Luigi was only trying to help and he's very grateful for it. He also knew that he needed to talk about it anyway. Hence why he had been giving the plumber's idea a lot of thought lately.

As he thought more about what Luigi said, a burning determination ignited inside him. A desire to finally put what happened to rest. This was his home, he should not be afraid to go somewhere in it because of something that happened. Regardless of where he goes into the castle, he should feel safe, not live in fear. At that moment, Lemmy had made up his mind, "That's it. It's been haunting me for too long. I have had ENOUGH. Today, I will put this trauma to an end, for good."


Yikes, having nightmares like that would definitely keep me awake.

Anyway, as I stated in last chapter's author's note, I'm changing how I write and release chapters. Instead of releasing as I go, I work on the next few chapters or a batch of them that are connected in a way, work on them together, and release them with a one week gap once they are complete enough. Here, I'm doing my first run of it.

By the time you're reading this, the next TWO chapters are already completed with a third in the making, but as stated above, I'm spacing out the releases by a week each.

Hopefully by giving a minimum wait time of a week between chapters, I should have a lot more breathing room to update this story consistently and have plenty of time to proofread and make changes without having to update them here. Which is frankly, a bit annoying, so by doing this, I shouldn't have to worry about juggling that anymore.

Also, this chapter and the next two all fall into my 2600 to 3400 word range for once and all about the same length too, yay for consistency! (Okay, honestly I should just add 1000 to that word range at this point since that's about how long they normally are.)

So, yeah. Next two chapters come out on the 23rd and 30th with a third one hopefully out on the 7th of October. And bonus if I finish them all before then, I can work on the next batch in the meantime. Whether or not I can finish it before all the ones in this one are posted is another question. but considering I wrote almost 3.5 chapters worth and revised the previous one in just two weeks, maybe. (No promises obviously)

Now if you'll excuse me, it's Pizza Time. See ya!