Chapter 27 Curse Removed

The chitter chatter of the cats reminded Ludwig of when he was still in Aida's house. Those times in particular, ironically enough, filled him with anxiety and made him feel like an aggravated outcast. However, things were different this time around. The fact that Kamek stood over them with his wand in hand made their chatter more joyful. They sounded more excited than before, like they had just discovered the emotion of joy and were going out of there way to experience it as much as possible. Ludwig and Lemmy smiled. This was bound to be an amazing moment. Seeing these cats, having their bodies and lives restored, was something that wouldn't be worth missing. Ludwig in particular, who had formed a bond with these guys, was looking forward to seeing them be turned back. Almost more so than he himself turning back.

"Splendid; the last two people are here," Kamek said. He cleared his throat. "Okay everyone. You've been cursed for long enough; let's not waste anymore time." He gestured for the cat closest to them to come over. When they were, he spoke the phrase "Spellus Disappearance," and the cat morphed back into a koopa. Said koopa looked like he was going to hug Kamek. In fact, that's exactly what he did.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Kamek wore a face that told Ludwig he was mighty uncomfortable (Kamek never was the touchy feely type). "O…kay. I'm very happy for you…but not that happy." He pushed the koopa away. "Get away before your tears stain my robe."

The koopa nodded, drying tears from his eyes as he walked away. Ludwig smiled as he watched him go, relishing in the sight. Lemmy did too.

"It's so precious!" Lemmy giggled. "If Kamek won't hug those guys, I certainly will. They deserve to have their feelings expressed!"

"Indeed," said Logan, who Ludwig had just realized was standing right next to them. He grinned, looking like the happiest cat on the face of the planet. "I can not tell you how ecstatic I am to see this happen."

Ludwig nudged him a little. "Why don't you go up there next?"

"Me? Oh no. I think the others should go before me. I'm known for being patient; I'm sure I can wait this out."

Ludwig thought about this before shaking his head. "Well, you know what? I'm impatient as impatient can get; I'm going up there right now." He took a step forward before looking back at Lemmy. "You coming Lems?"

"Oh no," Lemmy replied. "I want to stay a cat for as long as possible."

Ludwig snorted. "Yeesh, you might as well fill out the paperwork and change species now." He made his way over to Kamek, who had just got finished de-transforming the third cat. There was a playful glint in the magikoopa's eyes as he looked at Ludwig.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" He chuckled. "I should have known the most impatient koopa on the planet didn't want to wait."

Ludwig smirked and flashed a look back at Logan, kind of as a snide little way of saying see, I told you so.

"Well, it's not a bother." Kamek got his wand ready. "Spellus Disappearance."

The transformation, while a little bit painful, was far more pleasant than when Ludwig became a cat. For starters, he liked the sensation of growing back to his normal height; it was such a fun thing to experience on some level. The cat hair shrunk back into his skin before disappearing completely, as did his ears. His nose morphed, as did his tail. There was a noticeable weight that formed once his shell returned to his back, but it was a good weight. It was natural, welcome, in fact. So was the sensation of his fingers returning to him; he would never take opposable thumbs for granted again. When the light cleared, and he was in his koopa form once again, he wiggled his fingers, felt his hair, and laughed.

"Finally." He took a deep breath, rising about half a foot into the air. "Oh man, that feels good!" Without giving much thought to the action, he rose even higher and flew a lap around the throne room. There are no words to describe the happiness he experienced while taking part in this activity. He would have stayed up there forever, but the desire to see the reactions of the other cats changing back won out in the end. He landed, getting a raised eyebrow from Kamek and a collective awestruck look from the remaining cats.

"Well," Kamek said as he adjusted his glasses. "Okay then."

For the next forty minutes, Ludwig watched the other cats' reactions. Most if not all of them had tears in their eyes when they changed back (except those who wanted to be all "cool" and save face). Thanks were directed at Kamek, and some were even directed at Ludwig himself (which confused him; he hadn't really done anything). Most of them walked away with happy faces, although there were a few who stayed, stuck in a state of wondering where they were supposed to go from here. This was especially true of Brissa; she expressed that she didn't know where her parents were, how to get back to them, or how to figure out their current location. Thankfully, in situations like that, Kamek made a promise to the person that the royal family would personally take time out of their day to help out. In Brissa's case, Kamek said he would get Iggy to find their location via to the most recent census data, as well as any info he could fish out of social media profiles. This made all the fear in Brissa's face melt away, which really pleased Ludwig.

Finally, the last two cats were up. Much to Lemmy's disappointment, Kamek changed him back first. This caused the littlest Koopa's face to fall in a way Ludwig had never seen before.

"Oh man." Lemmy's shoulder slumped a little before he sighed. "Well, that was fun while it lasted…"

Ludwig smiled. "Well, either way, it's good to have you back, Lems." He patted his brother on the shoulder.

Lemmy smiled and did the same. "You too, Ludwig."

A bright light went on. Ludwig averted his attention away from his brother; he had really been looking forward to seeing Logan turn back. His shape morphed and shifted, being molded into a form that was much more fitting for him. Ludwig smiled seeing this whole sight, and his smile only grew larger when the light cleared. He even felt a little giddy looking at Logan, with black hair and a black shell that very much fit with the color he was in his cat form. Ludwig looked down at his hands, awe present in his eyes.

"This…I can't believe it." He beamed and tried to take a step forward, but noticeably stumbled. Ludwig and Lemmy went right up to him to prevent his fall.

"You okay, Logan?" Lemmy asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, I just haven't walked on two legs in a while." He held onto Ludwig's hand in order to stand up. "It'll just take me a while to find my balance, that's all."

Ludwig gave his new friend a satisfied look as he held his hand in his. "How do you feel aside from that?"

Despite his wobbling legs, Logan smiled. "I think I might be the happiest koopa in the world." An uncertainty appeared in his eyes. "I just…" he hesitated. "I just hope things can go back to the normal that there was before this whole incident."

Ludwig felt a pang in his chest. "You're thinking about Garnet, aren't you?"

"Y…yeah." Logan sighed. "It's been so long since I've seen him. I hope…well, I don't know. Part of me wants him to be doing well. But another part of me…I question whether he missed me at all."

"Of course he missed you." Ludwig patted his shoulder. "And I'm sure he'll be over the moon to see you again."

"You really think so?" When Ludwig nodded, Logan let out a breath. "Well…that is reassuring." He paused before hugging Ludwig. "Thank you."

Ludwig blinked. "Why? I didn't change you back."

"No. But you did act as a good friend over the past few days."

That actually caused Ludwig to grow a little misty eyed. "You too, Logan." He hugged Logan back. They held each other for a while. "You too."

Eventually, Logan let go. "Well…" he stood up fully, holding out his hands for balance. "I guess I'd better go. Keep in touch, Ludwig?"

"Of course." Ludwig waved at him as he walked toward the exit. Even with the struggles with finding his balance, he looked really happy to be on two legs again. There was no doubt in Ludwig's mind that he was going to readjust back into a normal life without any problems.

"Well," said Kamek. "Now that that is taken care of…" he put his shoulder on Brissa's shoulder. "Let's get our friendly neighborhood genius to find out where your family is."

With that, both of them left, meaning Lemmy and Ludwig were the only ones left in the throne room. There was a very noticeable, very stressful silence for about half a minute. It was finally broken by Lemmy, but the littlest's usual cheerful cadence was replaced by a somber one.

"So…"

Ludwig sighed. "Yeah."

Lemmy took hold of Ludwig's hand. "Are you thinking about Aida?"

Ludwig snickered. "Wow, did the removal of the spell have the side effect of giving you telepathy." He chuckled, hoping to deflect from the situation with the humor that Lemmy would usually appreciate. However, it had no effect on him this time around. His eyes gleamed with sadness, concern even.

"Ludwig…I'm really sorry about all this."

Ludwig mulled over this statement for a little bit. "Well…thanks Lemmy. It doesn't change the circumstances, but it…it helps. A little bit."

"Well that's good." Lemmy didn't take his eyes off of Ludwig's face. "But…you know, I think finding Aino could help."

Ludwig bit his lip. "It might…" He shook his head. "But how would we even go about doing that?"

Lemmy smiled. "We've got an Iggy…"

…

Lemmy and Ludwig made their way to Iggy's lab. As they did, Ludwig looked uncertain.

"Lemmy, we don't know if this will work."

"Even if it doesn't," Lemmy said. "We might as well try. It will be a good thing to do."

Ludwig sniffed. He…supposed that was true. Sometimes, just trying something was rewarding in and of itself, even if trying didn't wield success. Would that apply in this instance? He didn't know. There was just too many variables in play right now for him to come up with a concrete answer to that question.

When they entered the lab, they saw Iggy leaning over his desktop computer. Brissa and Kamek stood over him, with the former looking very excited.

"It's crazy," she said. "My parents haven't moved at all since I left them! They're in the exact same town, the exact same house!"

"Well, I think it is only logical that they would be," said Iggy. "After all, they probably wanted to stay in the same place so that you knew where to go when you got the chance to return to them."

"True." Brissa giggled. "Oh, I can't wait to go back to them!"

Kamek gave her a smile. "What do you say I escort you back to your house personally?"

Brissa gasped. "Oh man! That would be so cool! I can't even imagine the looks on their faces when they see me be accompanied by royalty!" She grinned at Kamek. "That sounds perfect!"

With that, both Kamek and Brissa left the lab. Ludwig flashed her a smile and a nod before he and Lemy went in themselves. Iggy looked particularly excited to see them.

"Hey! You guys are koopas again! How does it feel?"

"Oh…eh," Lemmy said.

This got a snicker from Ignatius. "Eh? That's it?"

"Yep, that's it." Lemmy giggled. "I'm thinking about having Kamek turn me back into a cat when he returns."

Iggy stared at him for a little bit. "Lemonade…" he shook his head. "You sir are weird." He looked back at Ludwig. "What about you?"

Ludwig smiled a little bit. "I'm happy to be myself again," he said quietly. "The fact that I can fly again is particularly sweet."

"I can imagine," Iggy said. "Your powers do seem extremely useful."

And extremely dangerous. Ludwig tried his best to ignore the memories as Frostwall as he took in a breath. "Iggy, I need your help. I need you to look through the most recent census information for Frostwall."

Iggy blinked. "Frostwall? Uh…why?"

"I need you to see if you can find an Aino Hatcher."

Iggy blinked again. "Hatcher…is he related to Aida Hatcher?"

"Yep," said Lemmy. "He's her son."

Iggy's jaw dropped as he looked back at Ludwig. "Why would you want me to find him?"

"It's a long story," said Ludwig. He gave Iggy a pleading look. "Can you please try? Please?"

There was a pause before Iggy slowly nodded. "Very well." He turned back to the computer. Ludwig prayed that Aino was there. He prayed that he could be found, that he wasn't lost to history.

After about five minutes, Iggy looked away from his computer. "I found him."

Ludwig's heart rate picked up. "Can you give me his address? I need to visit him."

Iggy blinked, but didn't object. Without another word, he turned toward his printer. Once the information was printed and in Ludwig's hands, the oldest breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, here's hoping he's still there," he said, displaying his crossed fingers to both of his brothers. "Wish me luck, guys."

With that, he left the lab.