Chapter 18 Dancing in the Snow

The scenery faded to black before shifting again, shifting in a way that once again threw Lemmy for a loop. It was such an weird thing to observe, an oddity in every sense of the word. Lemmy made sure to stay close to Ludwig while it happened, for his older brother was the only thing that didn't change or faded. In that sense, he was a very good thing to be seen as an anchor in this dreamscape. This was especially true given how he was the one causing the changes, as these memories belonged to him.

Lemmy approached his brother. He reached out his hand, ready to hold onto Ludwig's if he saw it to be necessary. Before he could grasp his brother's fingers, he noticed that the scenery had finished forming. Lemmy's jaw dropped as he studied it. It was cold, first off, which made sense as there was snow on the ground. Pine trees towered over the two Koopalings, casting shadows everywhere like the fierce giants that they were. Lemmy sniffed the air, noticing that the pines had their own smell. It was such a sweet scent, one that contrasted beautifully with the smell of sulfur and brimstone.

"Come on, Lemmy." Ludwig gestured toward his brother. "Follow me."

It only took half a second before Lemmy nodded and followed. His brother seemed to know where they were going in this snowy forest, which was interesting because everything looked the same to him. Maybe this was because Ludwig had spent a lot of time in this particular memory, so much so that he memorized the layout of the woods and could navigate them in his sleep. Lemmy wasn't entirely sure if that was the case, but if it was, he certainly found it impressive. He opened his mouth, wanting to give his older brother a compliment based on that assumption, when Ludwig came to a halt.

"Lemmy, look."

Lemmy blinked. He walked up to his brothers side, and saw the young Ludwig a few feet away. He shivered, possibly for multiple reasons as he looked up at the trees. With wide eyes and breath escaping from his mouth in the form of a vapor, he rose into the air and flew.

"Come on," Ludwig said. He took Lemmy's hand. "We don't want to lose sight of him."

Without even waiting to get a nod or any form of agreement from Lemmy, Ludwig rose into the air himself. His hand clamped around Lemmy's like the pincher of a sidestepper, but Lemmy didn't complain. If anything, he was grateful, as it showed that his older brother was protective of him and wasn't interested in the idea of letting him fall. He kept his eyes locked on young Ludwig as they flew. The young Koopaling zipped through the trees, looking back and forth for any sign of…whatever he was looking for. After about a minute, he stopped. He landed on the ground, panting as he leaned against one of the trees.

"This is so hard!" he exclaimed. "I can't get anywhere in these woods!" The young Ludwig groaned. "Darn it Frostwall, why do you have to be so hard to find!"

Lemmy felt a pang. As he observed the younger version of his brother while floating in the air, he actually felt a little bad for him. Sure, he had displayed an extreme bout of anger and lack of care toward the destruction he caused while in the library, but even then, he was still Ludwig. He was still Lemmy's brother, just at a time when he didn't have the same level of experience and memories that the current Ludwig had. Lemmy had a feeling that if his younger self appeared in any of these memories, he would definitely be doing his best to be there for Ludwig in any way possible. That had always been a trait of Lemmy's, for better or for worse.

The young Ludwig continued panting. When he recovered, he grit his teeth and ran through the snow. Ludwig and Lemmy followed him, and Lemmy couldn't help but notice that young Ludwig rubbed his arms and his hands together as he trekked through the forest. Kind of made Lemmy wonder why he didn't wear any winter gear before entering the coldest, most frigid region in the Mushroom World. Maybe he wasn't thinking before he left? He did say in the last memory that he wanted to get to Frostwall as soon as possible.

Well, either way, young Ludwig wasn't finding any luck in this forest. He came to a stop, sniffling as he did. Lemmy exchanged a look with the older Ludwig; man, that poor little guy really was having a rough day, wasn't he? Lemmy didn't even care that this was a memory he couldn't interact with; he wanted to go up and give him a hug! In fact, he was just two seconds away from letting go of Ludwig's hand and seeing if hugging was in anyway possible. Before he could though, he heard something that caught him off guard. It must have caught the young Ludwig off guard too, because he perked up and turned with a puzzled look.

Music. There was music in the woods. It was faint, far away as if the trees were trying to conceal it. Young Ludwig's jaw dropped a little. He rose into the air and followed the sound, the interest on his face visible even to the blind. Lemmy and Ludwig followed, all while Lemmy questioned what was going on.

Thankfully, he got his answer soon enough. There was a clearing, one that had a snowless circle with light coming down and illuminating the ground. What really caught Lemmy's interest was what was in the circle. Or rather, who. In the very center of the clearing was a little koopa girl, who looked to be the same age as young Ludwig. She danced in the circle to the music, which Lemmy noticed was coming from a boom box situated on a stump. Despite the fact that she had very heavy looking winter gear on, her movements looked lightless. Effortless, really. Lemmy's jaw even dropped; the way she swayed, the look on her face as she bent and did an arabesque…it was beautiful. It rendered Lemmy speechless, as it did for the young Ludwig. Both of them watched the girl, mesmerized by the sight and completely frozen in this moment in time.

Eventually, the music ended. As the final notes rang out, the girl did a twirl. Two twirls. Three. Once she completed her third rotation, she bent back and stretched her arms up to the sky. She held that position as the music stopped, creating a silence that lingered in the air in the most beautiful way possible.

And then, young Ludwig clapped. The girl, while clearly taken aback, turned toward the young Ludwig and blinked at the sight of him. After a second, she smiled.

"Well well well. Looks like I've attracted an audience." She stood up, walking over to young Ludwig with intrigue, but also caution. "What did you think?"

"What did I think?" Young Ludwig grinned, all symptoms of his worry over being lost as well as him battling the cold completely gone. "I loved it! You were so good! I…I…I mean, just…wow!"

The girl chuckled, her face turning scarlet. "Thanks. Just…don't tell my Dad I was here. In reality, I'm not supposed to actually be in these woods."

Young Ludwig nodded. He stood still for a minute before extending his hand. "I'm Ludwig, by the way. Ludwig von Koopa."

The girl took his hand and shook it. "Aria Shellcreep."

Lemmy gasped. "Aria!" He looked up at the older Ludwig, happy that he finally got to get a look at Ludwig's mystery girl. However, Ludwig's face didn't show the same exuberance or joy that Lemmy felt. It was gloomy, gloomy enough to make rainstorms look like the most sunny, beautiful days ever by comparison. For a minute, Lemmy stared at Ludwig, not saying any words. The oldest Koopaling looked like he was going to cry as he kept his eyes locked on Aria, not even daring to take his eyes off of her.

Thankfully, the uncomfortable, chilling silence was broken by young Ludwig. "You…" Lemmy took note of his facial expression; it appeared disappointed. "You don't look impressed."

Aria blinked. "Am I supposed to be?"

Young Ludwig let go of her hand. "Well…I mean, yeah! I'm Ludwig von Koopa!" Aria's face didn't change from the bewildered, puzzled expression it showed, prompting young Ludwig to elaborate. "Firstborn son of King Bowser Koopa?" While Aria's expression did rise a little bit, she still looked puzzled. "The special koopa who can create fire with his hands?"

Aria blinked again before laughing. "You can create fire with your hands?"

"Of course I can!" Young Ludwig extended his hand, which now burned bright with the blue flame he was famous for. Aria gasped as her eyes grew wide, staring at the fire.

"Oh my word!"

"Yes! Thank you!" The fire went out as young Ludwig lowered his hand. "See? That right there is the reaction you should have to me! Being impressed, being speechless…you get the idea, you're supposed to pay me some form of respect!"

Aria's jaw dropped before she did a double take and looked into young Ludwig's eyes. "Well, I can certainly give you respect. You are a person, after all."

"Not just a person!" Young Ludwig protested. "I'm a special person!"

Aria laughed. "No, I think you're just a person." She giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "Sure, the fire is cool, but at the end of the day, everyone is special in their own way."

Young Ludwig's jaw was the one to drop this time, which amused both Aria and Lemmy. It looked like young Ludwig's entire worldview shattered right in that instant, as he spoke to this girl who looked at him separate from his powers as opposed to intertwined with them. Lemmy actually giggled when he saw the young Ludwig trying to make sense of this whole situation, much to older Ludwig's dismay.

"Hey," Ludwig said. "Don't laugh; this isn't supposed to be funny."

"Well, too bad, because it is." Lemmy continued giggling, which garnered an eye roll from his brother.

Young Ludwig, ironically enough, did the exact same thing to Aria. "Whatever." He turned, looking like he was going to leave this girl and the methods she used to challenge his perceptions in the dust forever. "I don't have time for this; I need to find Frostwall."

Aria gasped. "Frostwall!" She smiled. "I know where that is!"

Young Ludwig froze and turned back toward Aria, his face practically glowing. "You do?"

"Well, of course I do! I live there, after all! I can get you there lickety split!" Her brow furrowed as she examined young Ludwig's body. "And I can probably get you some gear too. I mean, geez Louise Ludwig, what in the world were you thinking wandering around World 3 completely naked!"

As if that was a cue, young Ludwig shivered again and rubbed his arms. He gave Aria an interesting expression, one caught in between two contrasting emotions. On the one hand, he looked annoyed that she would criticize him, like he was above that. On the other hand though, he also looked grateful. Lemmy theorized that not even a Grumpy Gus like young Ludwig could deny help from someone when the other option available was freezing to death right there on the spot.

"Well…" his upper lip curled. "Th…th…" He tried to speak, but his tongue refused to cooperate. And in all honesty, this just amused both Lemmy and Aria even more. When young Ludwig finally did speak, Lemmy felt like he was going to laugh until the cows came home. "Th…thank…you….Aria…"

Aria giggled. "You're welcome, Ludwig." She reached out and grabbed his hand. Young Ludwig blinked, but didn't object as Aria started to pull him along. "Come on, it won't take us long to get to Frostwall from here!"

Without another word, both kids made their way through the trees. Lemmy giggled to himself, finding this whole exchange adorable in the most bizarre way possible.

"Hey," Ludwig said. "What did I say about laughing?"

Lemmy tried to get his laughter back under control. "Sorry. Sorry; I really didn't mean to. I promise I'll stop."

Ludwig pursed his lips. "Th…thank you." Lemmy giggled some more, loving how Ludwig sounded very similar to his younger self in this instance. Ludwig sharpened his face into a glare. "Lemmy!"

"Sorry!" Lemmy took deep breaths. "Laughter turning off….now!" With that, he managed to get himself back under control. He looked back up at Ludwig with a smile, nothing more. "Now, why don't we go follow you and Aria?"

Ludwig stood still for a minute before nodding. "Of course."

Lemmy felt a pang. That inflection….wow, it was drowning in sorrow. Lemmy wanted to say something about it, but no words came even as he and Ludwig began flying.