A/N: *China voice* Whuuuuut? A new chapter already? That's right! Thanks to Princess of the Gardens, I have a new chapter up! She gave me a good list of ideas for where to take the story next! Thank you VERY much, Princess! I like using exclamation marks as you may be able to tell!
Also, while I'm thanking Princess, I'd like to thank Cosmickitten89 for like the second time in this fic for an idea for a one-shot Hetalia (which in case you don't know, is the GREATEST. ANIME. EVER. and every episode is on YouTube) fic I'll release soon, titled "Chess", so look out for that. And ONE last thank you left. I just want to say thank you all for the reviews and giving me such positive reception towards this story! I REALLY appreciate it. I probably wouldn't try to finish this fic without it. [I leave stories unfinished a lot.]
Also, this chapter marks the entrance of a new character, Felicity Toadstool! Thank you, Hopefaith2, for letting me use her!
Enjoy, you guys!
Ludwig sighs and gives up trying to have a conversation with Lemmy. "This conversation with Lemmy is giving me a headache," he says aloud to himself.
"No, it's not." Lemmy says.
He shakes his head. "I have to go, Iggy. I'll... see you at dinner or something." he says, nodding to his half-brother.
Iggy waves absentmindedly at his elder brother. "See you."
Almost as if on cue, Bowser enters. "Oh, good, there you are, Ludwig. I was looking for you. We're going out to visit the Mushroom Kingdom's capitol." he says.
"Really? I get to go to the Mushroom Kingdom?" he replies with surprise. "What's the occasion?"
He answers, "I want you to become acquainted with Princess Peach's niece, Felicity. She's about your age, and I hope we can get on good terms with Peach to arrange a marriage between you and Felicity. That would be very good news for Dark Land."
"I shouldn't marry to gain something, I should marry because I love that person." he says disapprovingly.
The king rolls his eyes. "Getting lectured by a six year-old. What bullcrap." he mutters under his breath.
"I heard that."
He groans. "Whatever. Look, you don't have a choice in this matter, Ludwig. Just do what I say, all right?"
There was a pause for several moments. "...Yes, father." the blue child says, sighing.
His father pats him on the head. "Good boy, Ludwig. Now let's go." The father and the eldest son leave the grey-stone castle on a hill overlooking the capitol of Dark Land. They cross quickly from the capitol to the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by the princess. "Why is our capitol so close to the border?" Ludwig asks his red-haired father.
"I built it there in case I ever wanted to kidnap the princess," he replies.
He receives a strange look from his son. "But I thought you wanted to be on good terms with the princess."
"I do, but I didn't earlier. I just wanted her to be my bride. Of course those god dang Mario brothers always stopped me before I could marry her." he says in a bitter tone.
The child appears confused. "The Mario brothers? Who are they?"
He turns to his son. "You don't know the infamous Mario brothers?" He pauses. "The brothers are these twin plumbers, Mario and Luigi. They work as Peach's bodyguards. Whenever I kidnap Peach, they go and save her by killing my minions until her reaches my castle. I try to fry them but they always avoid it somehow!" he hisses.
"If they're plumbers, why don't they do plumbing?" he asks.
He shrugs. "I don't know. I think that used to be their job when they lived in the Real World."
Even more confusion. "The Real World?"
Bowser sighs with frustration. "Didn't your mother teach you anything? Yes, the Real World! The Real World is a dimension separate from our own. It is much different from ours, being that the world is populated by all humans, there aren't any plants that give you special powers, and a lot of the creatures that are common here, like us koopas, would be treated as mutants or monsters." he explains.
"The Real World sounds like a wretched place." Ludwig says, disturbed by these knew facts.
He nods. "It really is. I had the displeasure of visiting it a few times, you know."
"Really?"
"Yep. We should get on the move again. Don't want to be too late." he says.
The boy obeys his father and they continue on through the Mushroom Kingdom. As they walk, the child notices how lovely the kingdom seems compared to his home. He doesn't say it out loud, not daring to anger his father. After several hours of walking and stops, they reach the capitol. It's much lovelier than the Dark Land capitol. The sun shines bright, instead of the almost constant cloudiness in his home's capitol. Mushroom people are aflock the town, laughing and conversing cheerfully as they go about their day. In Dark Land, the citizens aren't the friendliest to each other. Why couldn't I have been born to the princess of this kingdom? the blue child asks himself. They approach a wall. It somehow has light pink bricks, a large, closed black gate, and had several guards on top of it, armed with spears. Ludwig can see the castle through the bars of the black gate. This castle is garish compared to his father's. The bricks are light pink as well, the roof is red, and in the front of the castle, there is a stain-glass window of who he assumes is the princess. "Who goes there?" calls out a mushroom guard.
"Bowser Koopa and my heir, Ludwig von Koopa." Bowser replies.
The guard leans over the side of the tower and squints. He quickly snaps back into place and (well, from where he could tell) trembles. "A-Ah, y-yes, of course, King Bowser. T-The princess has been e-expecting y-you." he says nervously. "Continue on, s-sir."
The king of Dark Land nods and waits as the gate is lifted. The pair enters the castle courtyard. "Here we are, boy." says the red-haired man. "The princess's castle. Isn't it ugly?"
The young boy is shocked by his father's opinion. He thought it was a lovely castle. He coughs. "Uh, yes, father." he replies. "Absolutely ugly. How could someone ever pick such a color? I-" he chokes on this part- "prefer our castle over this monstrosity."
"I couldn't have said it better. I can't wait to get home to my beautiful castle on the volcano." he says dreamily.
Ludwig glances up at his father. "Volcano?" he echoes.
"Yeah, my castle was built on an active volcano."
Does he have a death wish? he thinks in shock. He feels himself being pulled by the hand. "Come on, son. Just a little more to the castle." Bowser says. The boy takes the time as they're walking to observe the beauty of the courtyard. The grass is bright green, with many patches of flowers, there are trees spread all over, and as they come ever closer to the castle, he sees a waterfall and a small lake under the castle bridge. My God, is every place in this kingdom beautiful?Finally, they are at the castle's double doors. The king turns the knob and enters. The inside is even lovelier than the outside. The floor is decorated with a large picture of a sun right when you walk in, there is red, velvet carpet draping the stairs, and many things such as paintings, vases, and statues decorate the foyer. There are countless doors leading to who-knows-where, and several mushroom servants are scurrying about. "Ah, Bowser, I have been waiting for you." says a firm, feminine voice. Ludwig looks up to the master staircase, and at the top is a blonde, blue-eyed princess in a pink dress standing beside a young girl, no more than six. The little girl has a tan complexion, brown hair tied into a ponytail with brown eyes to match, and is wearing a lavender sundress. He assumes this is the girl his father wants him to know.
His father smiles, and says, "Princess, it is good to see you." He pushes his son forward. "This is my eldest boy, Ludwig. He's here to meet miss Felicity."
So Felicity is the girl's name? he asks himself. A certainly interesting name. Peach raises an eyebrow. "You do know they aren't getting married right now, correct?" she asks in a sharp tone.
"Of course I do. We haven't even agreed to that yet. So, why don't the kids go off and play while we discuss serious matters?" he suggests.
She narrows her eyes suspiciously, almost as if to say 'You're awfully focused today, eh, Bowser?'. She then nods. "Yes," she says. "Let's go." Bowser and Princess Peach walk off through the double door atop the steps. Ludwig climbs the stairs to Felicity. "Hello," he says, greeting the little girl. "My name is Ludwig, in case you haven't heard."
"I'm not deaf, " Felicity, much like her aunt, sharply replies. "I head your father say your name. I assume you know mine, since he had mentioned it as well?"
The boy is taken aback by her behavior. "Ah... yes, I know your name. Felicity..." He pauses. He doesn't know her last name.
"Toadstool," the lavender girl finishes. "Felicity Toadstool is my name."
He nods. "Right," he says, almost as if he had merely forgotten. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I would say likewise, but I'd be lying. I don't like you or your father. You aren't a trustworthy family at all." she hisses.
Ludwig frowns. "That's a shame you feel that way," he answers, "because my father and your aunt and talking over our possible arranged marriage."
She scoffs. "Please, my aunt would never agree to that."
"Then what is she discussing with my father?"
The lavender girl opens her mouth to reply, but stops. "I... don't know." she says.
"You shouldn't be so sure of yourself, then." he says, smirking.
She glares at him. "Don't you smirk at me you- you- you koopa scum!"
"Scum? Me? I hardly doubt I am scum! I come from a well-bred family of koopas from Austria-"
"Well-bred my butt!"
"Why you imprudent-"
"Evil-"
"Quick-to-judge-"
"Koopa SCUM!"
"THAT'S IT!" Ludwig jumps onto Felicity, pulling on her hair.
"Ow! Hey, don't do that!" she spits.
He grins childishly. "What? This?" he asks, pulling her light brown hair again. The lavender girl reaches for Ludwig's tail and pulls it hard.
"OUCH! Don't do that!"
"Only if you stop pulling my hair!"
"Only if YOU quit insulting me and my family! How do you know if we're trustworthy or not? I'm sure this is the first time you've met us!"
"It's just common sense- ow! Koopas are naturally untrustworthy!"
"Oh that's- that's- BULLCRAP!"
"ENOUGH!" shout the two leaders, who had returned to the corridor. They both begin to rant. "I can't believe you would do this!"
"Why would you act so immature?"
"I'm VERY disappointed in you!"
It went on for at least half an hour, when the two children were ashamed. "We're sorry," they say in unison.
Peach glares. "You'd better be," she says. "And you're going to think about that while you're in your room, grounded for two weeks."
Felicity gasps, then hangs her head. "Yes, ma'am."
Bowser glares at his son. "You too, Ludwig." he says. "I'm going to have you clean every dungeon in the castle until they're sparkling. Understand?"
"Yes, father." Ludwig says, hanging his head as well. How could I act so immature?
Bowser turns to Peach. "This was a disaster," he says. "I'm sorry for the trouble caused by this, princess."
"I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry that I could ever think your son was fit to marry my Felicity!" she hisses.
The king growls, "Now hang on just a second. My son was in the wrong? It was clearly that little brat Felicity!"
"There's no way in hell it was her! She's a good little girl, and she would never-"
"Bullcrap!" he exclaims.
A pudgy man with brown hair and a mustache, blue eyes, wearing a red shirt under blue jean coveralls enters the verbal battle. "Hang on just a second," he says. The man has an Italian accent. "I think both kids were in the wrong, if you ask me."
"Shut up, Mario!" Peach hisses.
"Yeah, shut up, you pesky plumber!"
So, that's the infamous Mario, Ludwig thinks. He doesn't seem too bad.
"I'm just trying to help solve this dispute!" he says, putting his hands up defensively. "Jeez louise."
The red-haired man scowls, and grabs his son's hand. "Come on, Ludwig. Let's go."
A/N: Half a Subway sandwich, two pops, the Hairspray soundtrack (you can't stop the beat! :D), and four hours is what it took me to write this chapter. It's record time, besides the one time when I wrote the last Blackstar and Jewel chapter in two hours.
My God, SO. MANY. DESCRIPTIONS. *dies* Yeah but I enjoyed writing this chapter. I liked describing the Mushroom Kingdom. Oh man, I also made Felicity a total female dog in this. She's not, I promise. She's just a little suspicious, is all. Oh, and that part where they are insulting each other reminds me of a part from "Chess", where Prussia and Austria did almost the exact same thing. Weird, right?
Also, I just want to note, that in this story, Felicity and Ludwig never marry. Just throwing that out there for anyone who's wondering.
