Chapter 30 Minding Your Business

Creak!

"Okay," Ludwig said once he and Lemmy were in the common room. "First things first…" the door closed, causing him to let out a huff. "Dang, why is it so dark in here? It's not even ten o'clock yet." Just barely visible in the darkness, Ludwig turned and pointed a finger at the light switch. He made a face when nothing happened. "Come on! Why isn't this…?" He let out a groan. "Oh darn it; why do I keep forgetting about the powers thing?"

"Powers thing?" Lemmy asked before he realized what his brother was getting at. "Oh! I get it!" He turned toward the light switch and telekinetically turned it on. "Is that what you wanted to do?"

"Yes." Ludwig shook his head. "I swear, it's like I have phantom limbs." He made his way over to the couch. Lemmy took a seat right beside him.

"So," Lemmy said, his excitement bubbling over. "How are we going to do this?"

Ludwig pursed his lips. "Well, earlier, we were able to pick up on what we were thinking quite easily." He tapped his finger against his leg. "I want to be able to take that to the next level."

"Hmm," Lemmy said with a nod. "So, like telepathic conversations?"

"Yep." He faced Lemmy. "I'm going to try it. Tell me if you can hear me."

Lemmy let out a breath. "Okay." He closed his eyes. "I'm ready when you are."

For a minute, there was complete and total silence. Lemmy didn't hear any sound coming from Ludwig; not even his breathing. In the darkness provided by his closed eyelids, Lemmy felt extra uncomfortable. He opened his eyes and turned to Ludwig. Right before he relayed his disappointment was when he received the shock of his life.

Testing testing. Can you hear me, Lemmy?

Lemmy gasped, the shock palpable. He stared, wide eyed, at his oldest brother. His stomach did flip flops, his skin cold as ice. Did…did that really just…?

"I take that as a yes," Ludwig said out loud. He grinned. "Are you alright?"

Lemmy had to use every drop of willpower in order to speak. "Ye…yeah, I am." He put his hand on Ludwig's knee. "That was…"

"Creepy?" Lemmy nodded, which made Ludwig grin sheepishly. "I see what you mean. Maybe we just need to get used to it?"

Lemmy smiled. Yeah. That seems to be the case.

Ludwig's eyes grew wide. "Holy…" he laughed. "Man, this is on a whole other level of interesting." Either that or it's on a whole new level of disturbing.

Lemmy smirked. Let's go with interesting. Interesting is gooder.

Ludwig glared. Wow. Is your grammar always this bad when you're thinking?

Maybe. Lemmy snickered. I like how THAT'S your take away.

What? I'm a grammar nazi, so sue me! Ludwig laughed before speaking out loud. "It's so weird! I can actually hear you!"

"Yeah!" Lemmy replied. "I mean, you would think it would just be a little voice in your head, but no! It's…dang, it's loud!"

"Yeah!" Ludwig looked thoughtful. "I wonder; can we project images and memories so that the other person can see them?"

Lemmy gasped. "Oh man, that would be so cool! We wouldn't even need memory spheres anymore!"

Ludwig nodded. "Yeah." He looked Lemmy straight in the eye. "Can you think of something for me to view?"

"Um…sure." Lemmy bit his lip, considering what to do before smiling. "Oh, I know!" He kept his eyelids shut extra tight, focusing on the image he wanted Ludwig to see.

"I…I don't see anything," Ludwig said.

"Try closing your eyes," Lemmy said without opening his own.

"Okay." A second passed before he gasped. "I can see it! It's Ernesta!"

Lemmy's heart leapt with joy. "Yeah!" He giggled and opened his eyes. "That's exactly who it is!"

With a smile on his face, Ludwig opened his eyes back up. "Great!" He put his hand to his chin. "Now I need to think of something for you to view."

Lemmy giggled. "You gonna go with a song or something?"

Ludwig perked up. "Hmm. I could do that." He thought for a minute before shaking his head. "Nah. I want to go with something grander." He looked Lemmy dead straight in the eye. "How do you feel about seeing one of my memories?"

"Ooh! Yeah, that could be cool!"

Ludwig beamed. He closed his eyes; Lemmy could see the wrinkles in his eyelids. "Okay. I got one for you."

"Sounds good! I'm closing my eyes….now!"

…

I furrowed my brow. This violin, old and in disrepair, was not in any condition to be played. Splinters poked themselves out from the skin; one of the tuners was missing while two more were hanging on by a thread. It was a shame, really. If it couldn't be played, that meant it couldn't fulfill its intended purpose. I picked it up and plucked one of the strings, causing a pathetic twang to carry throughout the room. I cringed. This violin was more than just broken.

It was dead.

I shed a tear, wiping it away quickly so that no one passing by would be able to notice. This poor, poor instrument. It had sent its voice out over countless concerts. It lifted the hearts and souls of millions of people. Why did it's life have to be taken away like this?

I swallowed my tears. My body going into autopilot mode, I flew from the music hall up to my bedroom. I let out a heavy sigh when I got there before commencing the search. I looked under my bed and around in my closet before I found what I wanted to find; a piece of cloth. Gray in color, it bore a striking resemblance to sack cloth.

How appropriate.

My fingers moving with gentleness so as to not damage the violin further. The cloth wrapped around it perfectly; there was not a single inch of unneeded material. Once it was completely covered, I cleared my throat and flew out the window. I landed right at the foot of the east wing tower. My breathing shallow, I used my bare hands to dig a little hole. The black soil stained my hands and knees. I didn't care.

Once the hole was deep enough, I picked up the instrument's corpse. With the same level of reverence used to lower a casket into the ground, I placed it in its grave. I used my telekinesis to put the dirt back, desiring to make the ground as smooth as possible.

After five minutes, I finished. I lowered my head, taking a moment of silence. No humming, no singing, no music of any kind, I felt this was the most appropriate way to acknowledge this death.

…

Lemmy did a double take as he opened his eyes. He looked at Ludwig, his brow scrunched up. "That was what you wanted to show me?"

"Sure," Ludwig said. "Why not?"

Lemmy scrunched his brow even further. "That was sad!" He sniffled. "That was really sad!"

Ludwig chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry." He cleared his throat. "It was the first thing that popped in my head. But hey, at least you saw it!"

"True." Lemmy's heart ached as he spoke. "How long ago was that?"

"It was three years ago." Ludwig's face fell. "I tend to do that pretty often with my instruments."

"Why? Why don't you let people recycle the materials, or burn them?"

Ludwig let out a hollow laugh. "I don't know. It just wouldn't feel right. My instruments deserve a dignified death after all they went through." He sank lower into his seat. "At least with a dignified death their legacy won't be perverted."

Lemmy's brow scrunched up. Something was wrong. REALLY wrong. The way Ludwig said that last sentence…was he even talking about the instruments specifically? Or was he talking about…?

Lemmy shuddered. He needed to change the subject, and he needed to do it fast.

"Hey, do you want to see one of my memories?"

There was pause before Ludwig responded. "Sure. It seems only fair."

This got a giggle out of the second eldest. "Okay. I think you and I both need something to cleanse our palettes." He closed his eyes. "I'm gonna show you my happy place."

…

I stared down at Henri. His smile seemed…off today. It was like there was more behind his smile than just happiness. If I were to wager a guess, I would say he was…longing.

I sat the sock monkey down on my lap. "You want something Henri?" I chuckled. "If you want, I can set you up with Princess Ernesta. I bet she would love to be your girlfriend."

"No," I made Henri say. "Ernesta is nice, but I don't want to go out with her." I made him sigh. "My soul longs for someone else."

I snickered. "Man, you sure are dramatic." A pause hung in the air, saturated with gloom. I lowered Henri to the ground and sighed. "But then again, my soul longs for someone else to."

Henri didn't respond; just stared at me with his shiny black eyes. I tucked him away in my hammerspace and went for a walk. I didn't have anywhere I wanted to go. I just wandered around, thinking about nothing.

It wasn't until I got to the entrance hall when I stopped. I stared at the door. When would he return? Would he return?

I shook my head. There was no use thinking about that; it would just make me even sadder than I normally was. I turned on my heel and made my way toward my bedroom.

Creak!

I blinked. Cautiously optimistic, I turned toward the door. I gasped when I saw who it was.

"Luddy?"

Ludwig took a step into the castle. He looked…uncomfortable. I shook a little; that wasn't because of me was it? For a solid minute, I waited. Ludwig stood as still as a statue, and I was in the same state.

Then, he put on a wobbly smile. "H…hey Lemmy!"

A smile that felt like it would never fade bloomed on my face. "LUDDY!" I bolted over and wrapped him in a hug. "Luddy, you're back!" I held him tighter. "I can't believe you're back!"

For a minute, there was silence. Luddy had been missing for the better part of the last week. Without warning, without telling anyone, he just disappeared. I had tried to not let it bother me, but…

"Lemmy, why are you crying?"

The tears flowed down my face, and I didn't even bother to stop them. I squeezed my brother even tighter. "You're back," I sobbed. "You're back! You're actually back!"

I held on for another minute before letting Luddy go. I grinned at him, looking into his surprised, bewildered eyes. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah. I'm back."

I giggled. "You were gone for a long time! I thought you disappeared!"

Luddy chuckled apprehensively. "I didn't disappear." He looked down at something that I just now noticed he was holding in his hand. My curiosity was admittedly piqued.

"What's that?"

Luddy hesitated. The silence was awful; how can you expect someone to handle it for so long? Right before I was about to explode in anticipation was when he displayed it to me.

"It's a gem." He looked down at it himself. "A jasper, actually."

"Woah!" I peaked at the jasper, glittering under the lights. "It's beautiful!" I looked back at him. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Uh…" he shugged. "I…I'm not sure."

I nodded. "That's fine." I gasped. "Wait, I know! You can make it into a button!"

Luddy blinked "A button?"

"Yeah! Like, for a coat or a cloak or something!"

Luddy looked back down at the gem. I noticed a lot of emotions brewing behind his eyes. Apprehension. Discomfort. Guilt. My happiness slowly melted away; was he okay?

"Luddy? Are you…?"

Just as suddenly as the emotions appeared, they were gone. Luddy looked down at me.

"Um…I'll think about it."

I grinned. "That's good enough for me." I wrapped him in another hug. "I'm so glad you're home."

"Well, I guess that makes two of us." For the first time in my life, Luddy hugged me back. "I missed you, Lems."

I beamed. "I missed you too."

…

Lemmy opened his eyes, interested in seeing Ludwig's rection to this. He was a major figure in this memory after all; it would only make sense. Ludwig opened his eyes, blinking in confusion. Right when Lemmy was growing worried did the oldest look back at him in awe.

"You…you remember that?"

"Yep!" Lemmy giggled as he looked down at the button of Ludwig's cloak; the exact same shiny jasper that was in the memory.

Ludwig did a double take. "Man." He sighed. "I can't believe you remember that. I mean, you were only six!"

"Yeah! And you were seven!" Lemmy leaned in closer, smiling as he did. "Pretty cool huh?"

Ludwig didn't respond, much to Lemmy's surprise. The look on his face…he looked like he was miles away. A misty, glassy sheen appeared over his eyes. Lemmy touched his shoulder; it was freezing.

The concern in Lemmy's mind grew stronger. He closed his eyes, hoping he could get an idea of what exactly was happening in his brother's mind. He gasped and immediately opened them. The screaming. The burning scent. The pleading, frightened faces.

"Ludwig, ae you okay?"

Ludwig did a double take, coming back down to reality. He looked at Lemmy, blinking for a minute as if he wasn't fully aware of what he was seeing.

"I…I'm fine." He let out a breath. "I'm fine."

Lemmy's brow furrowed; he could tell that Ludwig was still shaken up. "Maybe we should step away from the mind reading thing for a little bit." He thought for a minute before smiling. "Hey! Do you want to go flying with me?"

Ludwig blinked, much to Lemmy's concern. Fortunately, he put on a smile pretty quickly.

"Sure. I'd like that."