9Chapter 15 The Card
The nap lasted longer than Wendy anticipated. Wendy had expected that she would be out for an hour and then be able to get back up without any problems. After all, it's not like she was that tired. Or maybe she was, because she didn't wake up until the next morning.
At first, Wendy didn't care. She had enjoyed her rest and besides, more sleep could only be a good thing, right? And after the day she just had, she deserved. It's not like anybody was expecting her to be awake….
Wendy's heart sank as she recalled the fact that her brothers were waiting in the throne room with the servants, expecting her to be present to the party that they were throwing in her honor.
Dang it, Wendy thought as she scuffled out of bed. For a second, she considered stepping in front of the mirror to adjust herself. She never looked the best after waking up, at least in her mind. After a brief moment of consideration though, she decided against it. The others had been waiting for far too long.
It wasn't until she was halfway down the hall that she realized that her panic might have been for nothing. Everyone probably went to bed after midnight, Wendy reasoned. The thought of them waiting around in the throne room just before the crack of dawn, with sagging eyelids and a difficulty staying awake, was ridiculous. It was a funny idea to try and visualize, but ridiculous nonetheless. So, Wendy decided that she would check the throne, just to be sure, but was not expecting there to be anyone in there. Save for Bowser and a few servants who were trying to figure out the agenda for the day.
So, when Wendy opened the door to the throne room, she was so surprised that she almost fell over laughing right then and there. Everyone was still there. Everyone. Her brothers were there, as well as a majority of the koopa troopa servants. Wendy could spot one or two people meandering about, but almost everybody was out cold. And they certainly hadn't noticed her arrival. Wendy took a minute to appreciate the hilarity of the scenario, then closed the door. She hadn't planned to do it gracefully, so the sound resounded throughout the whole throne room. Everyone who had been asleep woke up; some instantly, some slowly. Roy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Wha...what's going on?" he asked. "Is the party over?"
"There was no party," Morton stoically said to his side. "The guest of honor never arrived."
Wendy approached her brothers. She knew that it would look pretty bad on her part if she looked amused, so she did her best to look regretful.
"Well, I'm here now," she said.
The other Koopalings looked up, and at the sight of Wendy they all jumped up, the signs of sleepiness completely gone from their faces.
"Where have you been?" Iggy asked with a considered inflection.
Wendy shrugged and smiled.
"I fell asleep," she said honestly.
"Fell asleep?" Ludwig asked. "We've been waiting all night for you to come down! I could've been in my room resting my head to "Moonlight Sonata," but instead I was here trying to get myself comfortable on a floor made of stone!"
"Sorry," Wendy said sheepishly. She then studied the room, trying to take in her surroundings. "But, for what it's worth, the decorations look nice."
This was true. Magenta streamers decorated the space between the wall and the ceiling. Heart shaped balloons, filled to the brim with helium, could be seen all over the room, and there was a table set up in front of the throne that held a wide assortment of delectable treats.
"Yeah, they do," Iggy agreed. "The servants did an astounding job."
"It wasn't just the servants!" Lemmy protested. "Remember, I was the one who drew that picture!"
Lemmy pointed across the room, and Wendy directed her attention to where he was pointing. From a distance, the picture didn't look like anything special. It was drawn on a plain old piece of printer paper, and the drawings were not discernible from where Wendy stood. When she approached though, she felt her heart stop. The picture was one of her, and despite the fact that it was made in crayon, Wendy could tell that effort went into it. It was a very appealing portrait of Wendy, drawn in the very distinct Lemmy style. Wendy smiled.
"Thanks Lems," she said. "I love it."
The Koopalings looked at Wendy. Their expressions looked playfully, mischievous. They looked like they were trying to hide something, something they wanted to bring to light.
"What?" Wendy asked.
The Koopalings all looked at Iggy, whose smile grew even brighter.
"Well, we were planning on giving this to you last night," he said as he pulled a card out from behind his back, "but I suppose that now would be as good a time as ever."
Wendy took the card. She saw that on the cover was a hand drawn picture of all the Koopalings riding on an airship. Wendy was at the airship's front and was pointing out toward the horizon, as if she was leading the expedition. Wendy smiled.
"Cool," she said.
"That picture was my idea," said Roy. "Ludwig also wanted to add some glitter glue."
"*Cough cough* He means himself, *cough cough*," Ludwig stated with an exaggerated cough.
Roy cast a glare at Ludwig, but only a brief one. He then told Wendy to open the card. She did, and saw a message written inside. She read it out loud.
"While some have beauty that is only skin deep, yours is so much greater. Your words have reached even the most stony of hearts. While the world might view you as just another princess, to us you are so much more. You are our sister. You are our friend. We all love you, and we all hope that you remember that you are beautiful. Love, Lemmy, Larry, Ludwig, Iggy, Roy, and Morton. PS…"
Wendy hesitated for just a minute as she read the post script to herself. Then she continued on.
"PS this is Roy. I never thought Selene was that pretty anyway. I am dumping her first thing tomorrow. Well, maybe Thursday, I don't know. I don't think that I can deal with another day of her. Also, did you hear about the new Mexican restaurant down the street? I hear it's really good…"
"Okay, okay, okay," Roy said. "The point that we are trying to get across is that we think you're awesome, and we want you to feel the same."
Wendy smiled and dried a tear from her eyes.
"Thanks guys," she said. With that, the Koopalings all gave their sister a hug.
AN: There! It's finished! As always, thank you to all of you for reading, and special shoutouts to TrimusicaDrag00n90, TheGhostlyRobot, FierySpyro, Gallygal117 for favoriting, PinkRose0106 for following, and C. Mechayoshi for favoriting and following. Well, see you next time (whether that next time be an update for my current stories or a whole new story I am not 100% sure, but see you all the same :) )!
