Chapter 14 Back in the Past

Iggy hadn't really needed help with fixing the time machine, at least not as much as he had originally implied. In fact, the others did almost nothing to help, at most providing emotional support. But Iggy realized as he worked that that was probably the biggest favor that they could do for him in this current moment.

Besides providing emotional support, the others had also recalled some stories that had occurred during Larry and Iggy's absence. Most of them were just going into more detail regarding the direct results of the trauma, but others were genuinely happy. Junior, Roy, and Celia in particular even laughed a little bit over the memories they had forged together. On top of that, it was obvious that Morton had formed real bonds with the people he had made alliances with.

Unfortunately, there was one who did not join in on the conversations: Ludwig. After the initial purification, he had no real memories of what happened after his corruption. But slowly, little by little, those experiences started to come back. While Ludwig did try to keep himself busy by providing Iggy some technical advice, Iggy knew that Ludwig was having troubling getting out of his own head. The knowledge that you had single handedly wiped out your father and destroyed a kingdom was not an easy monster to wrestle.

That little detail was what gave Iggy the urge to keep going. He was still unsure of himself, but now he had a reason to finish the time machine. Now he wasn't just doing it for himself; he was doing it for Ludwig. And Larry. And Roy and Morton and Celia and Junior; he was doing it for everyone.

"Okay," Iggy said as he put the last piece of Titanium on the hull. "That should do it."

The time machine didn't look that impressive, but that was understandable. Iggy turned to Larry and gave him a weak smile.

"You ready?"

Larry nodded firmly. Morton approached Iggy, his eyes a melting pot of all sorts of emotions.

"So you're really leaving." That wasn't a question made by Morton, it was an observation.

"If we want to prevent this from happening in the first place," Iggy said, "then we have to."

Morton gave a small nod, a weak one. Iggy approached him and hugged him, allowing the air around them to be silent and still. Eventually Roy and Larry got in on the hug, soon followed by Ludwig. Junior and Celia, while they were directly affected by all of this, felt it was appropriate to just watch. The Koopalings had just been reunited, and now they were going to be separated again. Permanently.

"I am so sorry," Iggy said, his voice breaking.

"No Iggy; this wasn't your fault," Ludwig said. He held on tighter, all of them did. All of them wanted this memory to be engrained in their heads. Eventually, Morton pulled away.

"You guys need to go."

Ludwig and Roy pulled away as well, causing the huddle to unravel. Iggy and Larry faced them, giving them all one last reassuring smile.

"See you in the past," Ludwig said, giving a smile that did look genuinely content.

"Oh, and tell sixteen year old me I said hi," Roy said. "He'll know what I mean."

"Alright," Larry said with a laugh. Together, Iggy and Larry stepped into the time machine. With the flip of a switch, the interior of the place lit up, and Larry took a seat in the center of the room. Iggy got to work on maintaining the controls.

"All set, Iggster?" Larry asked as Iggy took a seat.

"Yep, we are good to to go," Iggy said. He held onto the steering wheel. "Oh man, I really hope this doesn't turn us inside out."

"WHAT?!" Larry yelled. Iggy laughed.

"What? I'm kidding!" Without further ado, Iggy pressed a button on the steering wheel, and the machine was surrounded by light. Through the windshield, he could see Celia approach Roy. While he couldn't hear what they were saying, he was skilled enough with reading lips to pick it up.

"Do you think we'll still be together in the alternate timeline?" Celia asked. Roy turned his head toward her, so Iggy wasn't certain what he had said. The last thing he could see through the windshield was Ludwig and Morton smiling at them, their eyes shining with tears. Then, the scenery vanished as the time machine was completely surrounded in light. Iggy didn't know how long this would take or even if it would work at all, but he was amazed to see that the light around the machine disappeared in less than a minute. Iggy and Larry slowly got out, and were greeted by the familiar sight of Iggy's lab. Larry turned to Iggy with a questioning look.

"Did it work?" Before Iggy could answer, the door to the lab was opened by Wendy, who was accompanied by the others.

"What's going on in here?" she asked. The others came down into the lab, all looking a little concerned. "We heard a noise."

Iggy studied his siblings. They were all the same. They were all exactly the same!

"Are you guys alright?" Ludwig asked as he floated toward Larry and Iggy. While it was obvious that he was feeling mainly concerned, all Iggy could feel was immense amounts of relief and joy.

"Yes," Iggy said. He wrapped his arms around the eldest. "We are alright."

"Better than alright," Larry said as he too wrapped his arms around Ludwig. Ludwig was so surprised by this amount of affection that he just seemed to freeze, his face stuck in a shocked expression. The other Koopalings looked the same way. After about a minute though, Lemmy shrugged and joined in on the hug with a smile. This prompted Wendy, Morton, and Roy to do the same.

"Oh Roy," Larry said as he pulled away from the group. "Twenty six year old you says hi."

The huddle broke apart. Everyone stared at Larry, baffled by his cryptic statement.

"Twenty six year old me?" Roy asked.

Larry's face dawned a mischievous smile, and Iggy looked similar. The others stared at them as they finally realized what Larry had implied. Roy removed his sunglasses, his eyes wider than planets.

"DID YOU GUYS GO TO THE FUTURE!?"

"Yes!" Larry squealed excitedly. The looks on the other Koopalings' face reflected that excitement.

"So the time machine works!" Lemmy exclaimed. "That's incredible!"

"It certainly is!" Morton said, his normally impassive face glowing with joy and awe. "What did you guys see there?"

It was then that Iggy and Larry's face fell.

"I think you guys had better sit down," Iggy said as he gestured toward the tables near the back of the lab. He and Larry proceeded to explain everything. Even though there were some parts of the story that Iggy would have preferred to have left out, both he and Larry knew that they couldn't spare their siblings the details. As they progressed further and further into the story, the excitement on their siblings' faces was replaced by horror.

"And then Larry and I got into the time machine and got back," Iggy finished. The room was filled with silence as Roy, Ludwig, Morton, Wendy, and Lemmy processed what was just told to them.

"Woah," Morton finally said.

"Yeah," Roy said. "That's…" Suddenly, his face broke out into a grin. "I'm not gonna lie, twenty six year old me sounds kind of cool!"

Larry snorted back a laugh as Iggy rolled his eyes. Lemmy and Wendy shared a look, a look of unease.

"I had no idea that such a future could even happen," Lemmy said. It was then that Iggy directed his attention toward Ludwig. Ludwig was beyond frightened, beyond horrified. He was staring down at his own hand, looking at it like it had been possessed by a demon.

"Ludwig," Iggy began softly. Ludwig closed his eyes and shook his head. He was at a loss for words. "I'm sorry."

Ludwig tried to do a breathing technique to calm himself down. Everyone looked at him, despite the fact that they knew that was the last thing he wanted. Ludwig hated having others see him in a position of vulnerability.

"I can't believe…" Ludwig began. He looked down at his hand again. He traced his fingers along the vein, where the source of his power lied. "I didn't know that it was possible for me to...to lose control like that."

Everyone looked at Ludwig. It wasn't pity per se that they were showing, but it was definitely sympathy of some kind.

"Ludwig, that whole thing happened because...because of something that will never happen," Larry said.

Ludwig let out a sigh.

"If it was possible in that timeline," he said. "Who's to say it can't happen in this one?"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Iggy said, "since you are the oldest, you are statistically more likely to die before we do."

Ludwig snickered, but there was hardly any amusement attached to it.

"That's comforting," he said sardonically. Iggy slowly started to rise from his chair.

"Look," he began. "Let's say that, Heaven forbid, something like that did happen. But…" Iggy sighed, struggling to find the right words. "We might go through hardships, we might go through trials. We might lose; no, we will lose. But no matter what happens, there is something that our trials can't take away from us. And that…is the fact that we are a family." Iggy looked around the group at his siblings, meeting their questioning, fearful faces with a reassuring, confident smile. "And there is nothing that can change that. Whether it be good times or bad, celebration or trauma, life or death...nothing can stop us from being a family. We're more than just a septet; we are the Koopalings."

While the fear and discomfort in the room didn't go away entirely, the comfort and solace brought by Iggy's words were enough to make it look minimal. There was a moment of silence as some of the Koopalings repeated what Iggy said in their heads. It was enough to bring a smile to each of their faces.

"You know," Morton finally said after about a minute, "you guys haven't had a decent meal in about a decade. Would you like to have the chef make something?"

Iggy smiled. Morton had the right idea; he was trying to turn everyone's eyes away from the road for a bit. Sometimes it was best to just be in the moment, enjoy the simple parts of life to distract yourself from the complicated, scarier things.

"I would heavily appreciate that," Iggy said. With that the Koopalings started to make their way up the stairs out of the lab.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think waffles sound great right about now," Lemmy said cheerfully.

"Yeah," Larry agreed. "I just hope that the chef doesn't screw them up. I didn't travel ten years into the future and then come back just to have burnt waffles!"

Iggy chuckled slightly. Seeing how he was the last out, he was the one who got to close the door. He cast one final look at the time machine, and slowly closed the door with a smile on his face.

AN: I have been planning this story for so long, and I am so glad that I got to put it to paper. As always, thanks so much to all of you for reading, and special shoutouts to FierySpyro for favoriting, LethalLemon and PinkRose0106 for following, and BunBunTanuki and LePurpleJoy for favoriting and following.

Now, seeing how Split Mindset is what you guys voted for in the poll, you are probably thinking that is what I am going to do next. And I will get to it; however, there is something I have to do first. Before I write Split Mindset, I need to rewrite Soul Swap. So, that means my next story will be Soul Swap Redux. If you guys are interested in that, I plan on uploading the first chapter tomorrow. Well, see you next time :)