Chapter 35 Dead Man Walking

"Ughhhh…"

The world spun faster than a carousel in hyperspace as Ludwig laid on the ground. Every last inch of his body hurt; his head pounded and he wouldn't be surprised at all if he had cracked his plastron. His eyes fluttered open, and when they did, he felt extremely confused. At least, for a few seconds. Where was he exactly?

Oh. That's right. He had just fought the duplighost again. Or, to be more accurate, had just gotten his ass handed to him by the duplighost. At least, until he had jumped into the field in order to save Lemmy.

Ludwig blinked. Wait. If he did that…then the body swap spell must have been reversed! The oldest Koopaling smiled and hoisted himself upright. He was back to normal! He had to be!

Right?

Ludwig lifted his hands to the top of his head. His beautiful hair was waiting for him, waiting to be fawned over once again. Or at least, it should be. When Ludwig felt his hair, he received the biggest disappointment of his life.

"I'm still Lemmy?"

He touched a strand of the rainbow mohawk, unwilling to believe what he was feeling. H…how? How could this be? He brushed his hand down the rainbow mohawk. He felt the huge eyes and pointed snout, He felt every last inch of his body, hoping that his fingers were relaying to him a picture that wasn't reality.

It was. Unfortunately, it was. Ludwig was still in Lemmy's body; there was no denying it.

"How…how can…why am I…" Ludwig sputtered. He was on the verge of crying. That was, until he spotted his unconscious body, lying on the floor. His heart skipped a beat when he saw it. The duplighost had tried to take possession of Lemmy. Had…had he been…successful?

"Oh no." He bolted to his feet and ran over to his body. His heartbeat pounded in his mouth. "Lemmy?" He shook him. "Oh please be Lemmy." His breathing sped up. "Wake up!"

The shaking proved to be successful. Whoever was in Ludwig's body was waking up. They lifted their head an got into a kneeling position. They put their hand to their head, all while groaning.

Ludwig swallowed a lump. "Lemmy, is that you?"

They didn't reply. They just rubbed their head, their eyes shut tight. After a minute, they finally opened their eyes. They blinked, obviously not being able to see things in full focus.

"Ludwig?"

Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief. It was Lemmy.

"Don't worry Lems; it's me in here." He smiled and embraced his brother. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay." He let go. "You are okay, right?"

Lemmy rubbed his eyes, blinking to get his vision back. Once he was finished, he smiled at Ludwig. "Yeah, I'm alright." He looked down and grabbed Ludwig's cloak. "For the most part."

Ludwig's face fell as Lemmy examined himself. The second oldest's confusion grew with each part of the body he saw.

"I…I don't get it," Lemmy said. He exchanged a worried look with the oldest. "Shouldn't we be back to normal?"

Ludwig sighed. "I thought the same thing." He looked down at his hand. "I guess we didn't recreate the accident well enough." He turned his hand this way and that, getting a good view of both the back and the palm. Feeling his brother's worried gaze, he cast Lemmy a worried smile. "But don't worry." He turned around. "We can just get the duplighost to…"

He gasped. His form went rigid, his pupils half their normal size. Lemmy stood up, and when he did…when he saw what Ludwig saw…his heart stopped beating. His breath caught in his throat.

There, on the ground, was a party hat and an empty sheet.

"NO!" Ludwig shrieked. He rushed toward the remains of their opponent. He picked up the sheet, staring at it with wide eyes. Tears sprung up, and when he spoke again, his voice was ladened with terror. " NO! NO NO NO NO NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" He picked up the party hat, now not even trying to back his sobs. He stared at it for a minute before speaking with the saddest voice imaginable. "We're stuck like this." He threw both items to the ground, tears falling like rain. "We're stuck like this!"

Lemmy's heart felt as if it had been punctured. No! This couldn't be happening! They had already come this far, and had gone through so much! Was it seriously over? Was this really how it was fated to end?

"No," Lemmy said, more to himself than to his crying older brother. He took a step forward, his heart pounding with fear. Desperation. "No! There has to be something we're not seeing! There has to be another way to…"

"WHAT OTHER WAY!?" Ludwig turned toward Lemmy, his eyes red. "DON'T YOU GET IT LEMMY? THAT WAS OUR LAST HOPE!" He got down on his knees, sobbing over the sheet. "My life's gone," He whispered. "I can never get it back." He clutched himself, gritting his teeth as he cried. "I'm essentially dead." He sniffled. "No, I am dead. Ludwig von Koopa is dead."

Lemmy's heart broke. As he watched his strong, confident older brother mourn the loss of his own life, he realized he was right. There…there really was no way out. They were going to spend the rest of their lives like this. Lemmy wiped a tear from his eye. Why? Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't Lemmy have fixed it?

Oh, why couldn't Lemmy have fixed it?

Right as he was about to fall into a crying fit of his own, he heard footsteps approaching. He saw his siblings, entering the room with almost anticipated looks.

"What happened?" Iggy asked. The only reply he got was dead silence, causing everyone's faces to fall. "Is…is everything alright?"

Lemmy looked over at Ludwig. He wasn't crying anymore; just kneeling in front of the sheet with a dark look. Finally, he sighed. "Nothing." He stood up. "Nothing happened."

Everyone's eyes grew wide. The stared at their older brothers, their faces falling even further into disappointed shock. "You mean…" Wendy asked.

Lemmy sighed as he and Ludwig approached. "We shot a little too close to the sun," He said. He gestured to what remained of the duplighost, causing everyone to gasp.

"Oh my God," said Larry. He looked between them. "I'm so sorry!"

Roy sniffled. "Me too." He wrapped Lemmy in a hug. "I'm sorry we couldn't fix this."

Lemmy sighed. "It's okay, guys," he said as Wendy knelt down to hug Ludwig. Those words felt wrong even before he said them.

Ludwig sighed and removed himself from Wendy's embrace. His head tilted toward the floor, his form limp. Everyone stared at his back in concern.

"Ludwig, are you alright?" asked Morton.

There was a moment of silence before Ludwig spoke. "I just…" he sighed. "I just want to go home."

…

"GRAWYUHUBBA!" Lemmy yawned. He stretched his hands up to the sky. When he was all stretched out, he looked out the window. Sunshine was visible, which meant there was no smog in the sky. Lemmy smiled a little bit. He hated smog with every last fiber of his being, so he was glad the air was clear today. Heck, he could almost call this a good day.

Almost.

Lemmy got out of bed and approached Ludwig's. The oldest was wide awake; he probably had been for a while. He laid on his side, the blanket covering his neck. Lemmy swallowed a lump before approaching.

"He..hey Ludwig." He couldn't even pretend to smile. "It's been three days now. Do you think you might want to get up?"

Ludwig didn't respond. He just pulled the blanket even further up and sunk even deeper into the covers. Lemmy's heart broke.

"Okay," he said, his volume low. "That's…that's alright." He directed his gaze toward the door, his head as vacant and empty as Ludwig's eyes. Lemmy swallowed a lump. He had promised himself that he wouldn't cry. He couldn't cry. He had to stay strong, even if there was no point in doing so.

Cause right now, there really was no point in doing so.

He sniffled and took himself out into the hallway. His feet dragging across the carpet, it felt like happiness was a distant dream. A hole rested in his heart, a deep, black, abyss. Lemmy wondered; was this hole all his? Or was some of Ludwig's despair present in there as well?

Lemmy wiped a tear from his eye. Why? Why didn't it work? When they were fighting the duplighost, they should have switched back! They needed to switch back! Lemmy wouldn't have accepted any other result. He wouldn't have accepted this!

He didn't accept this. How could he? Both his and Ludwig's lives were ruined! Their hopes and dreams…their futures and talents…they were gone. Sure, Lemmy imagined that he could probably make do. If he really wanted to, he could teach himself to write left handed. He could get used to Ludwig's physical stats, at least enough so that he could perform some circus tricks again. Yes. If he had enough time, Lemmy would be able to get used to this.

And honestly, there was not a single thought that terrified him more. Lemmy buried his head in his hands and let some tears fall. He should never have stepped onto the battlefield during the first duplighost fight.

"Hey Lemmy, guess what?"

Lemmy lifted his head and wiped his eyes. He forced on a smile (he didn't imagine that he wouldn't be able to smile naturally again for a long time) when he saw Larry and Roy approaching.

"Hey. What's going on?"

Larry beamed as he pulled a poster out of his hammerspace. "Dude, there's a circus in Stonebrim! They're here for a whole week!"

Lemmy's heart skipped a beat. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Roy exclaimed. "And it's a fancy one too!" He giggled. "I heard that they trained some penguins to sing the Imperial March!"

Lemmy gasped. "Aww! That sounds awesome!" His face fell. "But…I don't know if I should go. I mean, what would Ludwig think?"

Larry's face fell as he lowered the poster. "Uh, well…" he cleared his throat. "Don't take this the wrong way but…considering that you aren't going to be swapping back…does that really matter?"

Lemmy sniffled. He didn't even know how to answer that. No matter how much time would pass, this body would still be Ludwig's. There was no getting around that. He knew it, Ludwig knew it; everyone knew it.

"I don't…"

"Lems," said Roy. He patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay." He smiled. "You're allowed to be happy again."

Lemmy took in a breath. He…supposed that was true…

"You're right." He smiled. "We can go tomorrow!"

Larry and Roy's face fell. "Tomorrow?" Larry asked. "Don't you remember what we're doing tomorrow?"

Lemmy's face fell. "Oh, right, that's right." He can't believe he forgot. "We can go sometime later in the week."

Larry and Roy smiled. "Awesome!" With that, they went away.

Lemmy let out a sigh and shook his head. Even while watching the joys of the circus, he didn't know if he could be happy. Not after what happened. Not after both he and Ludwig metaphorically lost their lives.

Lemmy sniffled again. He needed to fix this. He didn't care how long it would take; he would find a way to fix this. He had to. He was sad and Ludwig hadn't come out of his bed for three days. They couldn't spend the rest of their lives like this. Just how could he fix this?

Lemmy bit his lip in a thoughtful fashion before something occurred to him. He looked at the door to Iggy's lab, a small smile appearing on his face. Of course! Why didn't he think of this before? If there was any koopa who could switch them back, it would be Iggy!

…

Ludwig hugged his pillow to his face, not even caring that it was wet from the tear stains. He had never cried this much in his life. Strong and confident, as steady as a rock. Those were the traits that Ludwig von Koopa possessed.

Ludwig whimpered. That seemed like such a long time ago. He snuggled deeper under his covers, hoping he could go to sleep and get lost in his dreams. Before he did that, however, he heard something unexpected.

Meow.

Ludwig blinked and sat up. "Toasty?"

The brown and cream colored cat came out of the closet. Ludwig blinked as he jumped on his bed and started kneading on the covers.

"Buddy, what are you doing in here?" He pet Toasty on the head. "Morton's probably looking for you." He hesitated, debating whether or not he should get up. After all, getting up was the last thing that he wanted. Eventually, he sighed, pulled the covers back, and hopped onto the floor.

"Come on, Toasty." He gestured for the cat to follow him; he was too small to pick him up. "Let's go see Morton."