Last Chapter everybody! It's been awesome! Thanks for making this as fun to write as it was for you guys to read, and thanks for the reviews and support and stuff! I appreciate it :)
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mario or its franchise; it belongs to
Nintendo and their affiliates. I just am really grateful to its creators for giving
me such a wonderful game and media series to write about!
I also don't own anything related to Harry Potter, all that belongs to J.K. Rowling,
but thanks go to her as well because, using her wonderful work, I can expand this
story to make it more interesting.
Chapter Sixty-Five
This had to be the most annoying night of his life, and he was only eight years old. For one, he was so hungry! His stomach kept rumbling in want of nourishment but he couldn't eat just yet. That wouldn't have bothered him so much if it weren't for the fact that he had to be around so much delicious food. Of all nights he could have picked to spend the weekend at King Boo's mansion, he had to pick this one.
But it's not fair, Ludwig thought to himself. When he told me he needed my help, I thought we'd be doing something totally cool, like magic or spells. Not cooking and playing waiter.
Grumpily, the little reptilian adjusted his apron for the umpteenth time that evening. The white cloth didn't fit properly over his spiked, white-rimmed green shell, which was leading up to a night full of discomfort. Not only that, but his feet were getting tired of walking back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room, and his arms were getting weary of carrying plate after plate while doing so. Ludwig stood at the sink and washed his hand, then used a dry towel to wipe his hands and forehead. His scaly feet hit the marble floor only after he'd stepped down from the stool used to compensate for his not being able to reach the counters. Ludwig had to take that stool and move it over to another part of the kitchen where the food was. The child fixed yet another plate of food and stepped down from his mini-ladder.
Here we go again, he thought as he carried the great-smelling food out into the dining room.
Very carefully Ludwig focused on not tripping and keeping the plate steady on his way to the lone person sitting at the head of the table. Ludwig had to cringe and not for the first time that night; the man was repulsive. Tall and large and imposing he was, with wiry red hair, menacing black eyes, and bulging muscles that resembled balloons. He wore his trademark smelly black vest and leather pants adorned with chains and skulls and fake stones. His big black boots were caked in dirt and mud and other things that should be left outside and his mustache seemed ripe for twirling. Currently, the loathsome man was still shoveling in food from the last plate, so when Ludwig slid the new dish onto the table he received no form of acknowledgement. To the right of the man was a small stack of dirty plates practically licked clean, waiting for Ludwig to go over an collect them so that they could be put into the sink.
This really blows, Ludwig thought irritably.
The glares he shot towards the eating man went unnoticed as Ludwig sighed, adjusted his apron, and walked over to get the dirty plates. Before he turned to go back to the kitchen, he locked eyes with King Boo. Leaning on the wall the old royal was, in his corporal form. He tilted his head at Ludwig and gave him a warm, encouraging smile. That made the young reptile feel marginally better.
I wish I at least knew what was going on, Ludwig frowned once he got to the kitchen.
He took a moment to wash the dishes before they really piled up. He'd begged King Boo to teach him a spell that would get them clean in an instant, but the older sorcerer had refused and insisted he do that and all other kinds of chores, 'the old fashioned way'. Ludwig took the time he spent scouring plates and forks to think about what was happening this evening.
King Boo had once told him that he only donned his corporal form when he wanted to put others at ease. Otherwise, he'd revel in his bulbous, terrifying ghostly body. That fact, coupled with the all-out feast the king had thrown tonight, confused Ludwig. Even though he was only eight, he'd spent enough time around the immortal to know that the redhead in the dining room was an enemy of King Boo's. His latest offense: he'd thieved something important that belonged to the immortal. The king had called this man a nuisance, a pest, and a thorn in his side on many occasions, so Ludwig couldn't fathom why the immortal now allowed the man into his estate and was treating him like an honored guest.
If he hates him, Ludwig reasoned, why doesn't he just use his ghostly form to scare the tar out of him? Or why doesn't he use some kind of wicked-cool spell on him? Why treat him to a buffet? And at my expense!
With a huff Ludwig stepped down from his stool at the kitchen sink and went over to the counter. Twice more he repeated his routine of carrying dishes and bringing empty plates to and from the dining room before there was but one dish left.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" King Boo asked with a broad smile.
Ludwig lingered a moment in the doorway of the kitchen, hoping to hear some snippet of conversation that would clue him in to the immortal's actions. He saw that King Boo was barely holding back his excitement in the way he had one foot on the wall behind him and his arms folded across the middle of his wine-colored dress shirt. His magenta eyes were practically dancing with mirth and there was a persistent twitch to the corner of his mouth, just itching to spread his lips in an even wider grin. Already the middle rows of his sharp teeth were showing. He looked a bit maniacal.
He always was kinda' loony, Ludwig thought with a mental shrug.
The reptilian youth then looked to the redhead man. He was licking his fingers. King Boo spoke again as if he'd gotten some semblance of an answer from his 'guest'.
"Consider this an act of goodwill." The immortal stated. "This is me saying I'm willing to let bygones be bygones between us."
If there was one thing King Boo claimed not to do, it was forgive. However, Ludwig knew himself to have broken things and botched things up in the royal's estate, either by accident or through mistakes when practicing his incantations. In every one of those instances, King Boo had let him slide.
Maybe he's changed, Ludwig mused.
"I hope you've saved room for dessert," The immortal announced.
At this the big man grunted and glanced up. King Boo locked eyes with Ludwig and, with an expectant gaze, jerked his head lightly towards the kitchen. The eight year old sighed and headed back into the kitchen.
I know I'm kinda on the chubby side, he mused, but that man is ridiculous! What kind of human eats that much food in one sitting?
The child headed over to the counter to get the one thing King Boo made himself: the pie. It was a fluffy white creation that smelled so good Ludwig's stomach got to quivering again. He gripped both sides of the tray the pie was on in his little claws and headed to the table. He felt not only hunger pangs, but a stab of jealousy as well. He couldn't see why King Boo was giving his best food up to his enemy.
He knows I haven't eaten yet, Ludwig frowned, why is he being so mean?
But Ludwig had to remind himself that not all things were as they seemed with the old immortal. He knew King Boo would feed him once whatever this was got over with. The man was busy finishing up the scraps on his last plate by the time Ludwig arrived, so when the young reptile put the tray on the table, a sneaky thought occurred to him.
I'm sure no one will notice if I just got a taste, he figured.
No sooner had the tip of his ivory claw scratched the pie tin did he find the striking magenta eyes of the king looking right at him. Ludwig felt a spasm of panic rock through him for a second before guilt washed over him at having been caught. King Boo looked gravely serious when he narrowed his eyes and shook his head sharply.
Ludwig had to watch in frustration as the redhead tore through the pie without mercy, sparing not even a crumb for the roaches. Ludwig had never felt so aggrieved in his young life. He made a slow move to start collecting the dirty dishes again.
"No, Ludwig." King Boo spoke, pushing himself off the wall. "Why don't you show our guest to the door? I'll clear the table."
Ludwig frowned at the prospect of interacting further with the brutish man, but nodded and did as he was told. He didn't need to help the man up from his seat at all, for the redhead ambled to his feet without an intelligible word.
"I do hope the meal was to your liking," King Boo called.
The man glanced at the immortal and grunted something as he followed the small reptilian child to the front entrance. Along the way, the redhead stopped at one of the walls where a twin set of daggers hung decoratively. Ludwig watched, indignantly, as the man slipped one of them into the fold of his vest. The young shelled child would have said something about this, but he knew by this age that no one ever listens to children. With anger Ludwig led the way to the door and begrudgingly held it open for the smelly redhead. He wrinkled his nose as the larger man shoved past him. Ludwig was too glad to see him go.
I'll have to tell King Boo about the dagger so he doesn't think it was me, He thought.
That thought was soon pushed to the back of his mind when he saw the man, after having taken no more than five steps, collapse in a heap in front of the estate. Ludwig's eyes widened at the sudden, surprising display of weakness and he stood stunned, waiting for the redhead to pick himself back up again. Behind him King Boo appeared, wearing a devilish smirk.
"Close the door, Ludwig, you'll let in a draft."
Later on, Ludwig found out that it was the pie that did it; the pie was laced with a patented brand of poison that caused near-immediate organ failure. One slice could bring down a normal human being in an hour, so it was no wonder the man had went down like a sack of sugar. To this day, Ludwig could only wonder what it was the man had stolen.
The memory was only so vivid and prevalent because of what he was now seeing. When Ludwig had teleported himself from Bean Kingdom to his old mentor's estate, this was hardly the sight he expected to arrive at. In front of him, sitting in a chair at the dining room table was his clone. He knew his clone when he saw it; it was like looking into a mirror if he swapped his cut, angular features for chubbier, more innocent counterparts. The child was swinging his feet at the table with his hand on his cheek and his elbow on the table, leaning on it like he was bored. When Ludwig had suddenly appeared, the child locked eyes with its host and Ludwig began to notice something wrong about the situation. His clone was holding a fork in his other hand. He had a plate in front of him. On that plate was the very thing that had spurred him to recall that memory in the first place.
"No," Ludwig murmured to himself.
He blinked his emerald eyes time and time again but the image in front of him wasn't changing. The child was still there, innocuously eating that cursed white pie. The longer he watched the clone, the more the realization of the situation and the panic thereof began to set in.
Ludwig strode over to the table and violently knocked the fork out of the child's hands and then slapped the child on the back multiple times.
"Spit it out," He ordered, then his tone escalated. "Out! Spit it out!"
The child began to tremble but Ludwig was only concerned with one thing. He picked the child up and started to shake him roughly as if that would undo the fact that half the piece of pie was missing from the little china plate. By now the clone's eyes were wide and his body was stiffening as Ludwig shook him until his teeth rattled.
"Ludwig, stop it." A firm voice commanded.
Ludwig turned and saw King Boo standing near the doorway of the dining room looking more weary than he'd ever have. Ludwig glared his eyes at him and King Boo just sighed.
"Put the child down, you're scaring him." King Boo said in a calmer tone.
Ludwig narrowed his eyes and was desperate enough to raise a finger to the boy's mouth, ready to induce the child to vomit. King Boo's voice stopped him yet again.
"It's no use," He spoke tiredly. "That was his second slice."
And as if on cue, the child's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he went limp in Ludwig's hands. Ludwig stared at the child a long moment, as if in shock and utter disbelief. He stared at the child and felt himself get overwhelmed with the implications of what just happened. Looking into the serene face of the child whose life was steadily draining from him, Ludwig felt himself unravel.
All my work, all my hard work, all my...everything...just gone, he struggled to fathom.
Ludwig let the child slip carelessly through slack hands and slowly turned to King Boo. First he felt numb, then, seeing his old mentor's guarded expression provoked him to ire.
"Why?" He asked, then shouted, "Why?! Why would you do this?"
King Boo said quietly, "Because I had to."
Ludwig made a face at that and said, "No you didn't!"
"You were out of control-"
"I knew what I was doing!" Ludwig yelled. "I had plans! You didn't have to do this, you didn't have to kill me!"
"I didn't." King Boo denied softly.
"Yes you did," Ludwig immediately corrected. "You did and now you've damned us all! Now that power that I've worked so fucking hard to get is gonna' go right back to the bastard and it's all your fault!"
King Boo went over to the child but Ludwig stepped in his path. The younger sorcerer wore all black, a similar choice King Boo had taken this particular day. They stood facing each other. Ludwig was still reeling from what just happened. He stared at the child and at King Boo in turn, trying to come to grips with this.
"Why did you do this?" He asked in a broken voice, "How could you do this to me?"
His face relayed how impossibly dumbfounded and truly at a loss he was. His alabaster skin seemed that much paler in the dim light of the dining room, and his sleek navy locks seemed as lifeless as the child at his feet. King Boo had a hard time seeing his ex-enforcer like this but he knew this had to be done.
In an even voice the king said, "Consider the alternative; Bowser would have gotten his power back by some other means-"
"No he wouldn't have!" Ludwig refuted with narrowed eyes.
King Boo closed his in a blink and ignored the interruption. "-and when he would have, he would have come straight for you, Ludwig. Or did you think the Dark King would let all your sins against him slide?"
Ludwig gritted his teeth and said, "It wouldn't have mattered! I would have found out where he was hiding and come up with a way to contain him!"
"Come now," King Boo spoke chidingly. "You must know that he has eyes and ears and allies everywhere."
Ludwig tossed his hair out of his face irritably with a pale hand that was shaking and King Boo noticed that his breaths were coming in increasingly shorter pants. His fists were balled at his sides and his magic was starting to crackle in the air around him.
"So what?" The young sorcerer sniffed. "I have his power and I know how to wield it."
"You should have left that power alone." King Boo advised.
"That was my decision to make!" Ludwig shouted. "Why couldn't you just mind your damn business?!"
King Boo glanced to the side and murmured, "Because I care too much; I only acted in your interest, after all."
"My interest?" Ludwig echoed derisively.
"Bowser will rise again-"
"Bullshit!"
"And so I'm only doing what I can to protect you." King Boo finished.
"I don't need your protection!" Ludwig spat. "I didn't ask for it!"
"You didn't have to," King Boo spoke plainly.
Ludwig snorted bitterly and asked, "So this is what you call protection, huh? Fucking killing me?"
His voice had returned to a dangerously low tone, not that it frightened King Boo, for the old immortal knew that was only indicative of Ludwig's rising temper and augmenting emotions. He regarded the navy haired ruler coolly.
"You don't understand-"
"Please," Ludwig scoffed. "Enlighten me then. Tell me why you killed my clone, knowing it would kill me, too. Tell me how making sure I'm six feet under is protecting me."
"I watched you destroy yourself and your family and those around you." King Boo spoke strongly.
"No I didn't!" Ludwig snapped.
"Oh?" King Boo challenged. "You neglected your own need to eat and sleep for that power-"
"I'm fine now, aren't I?"
"You drove your siblings away-"
"I gave them an opportunity to become something!"
"And that girl," King Boo spoke sadly, "That poor young thing; you handed her over to her tormentor-"
"It wasn't personal-"
"-Knowing what she'd endured at the hands of Dark King." The immortal finished.
Ludwig's mouth remained somewhat parted but his words stopped coming. Something akin to guilt reigned on his face and features. He was only silent long enough for King Boo to tell him one thing more.
"This time I won't sit idly by and let you ruin yourself and others. I'm doing what I can to protect you from yourself, Ludwig."
"You KILLED me!"
"I would never!"
Now it was King Boo's turn to raise his voice as he shouted those words and made them reverberate off the dining room walls. King Boo wasn't angry, just annoyed at Ludwig's constant accusations. He'd taught the boy that there were more sides and depth to things besides what could be seen and immediately detected, yet Ludwig refused to see past the immediate situation in this circumstance.
King Boo said gently in the quiet room, "I wouldn't kill you. I care for you as I would my own son; you know that."
Ludwig spoke lowly, callously when he said, "I know that you are not my father, so do me a fucking favor and stop acting like it already."
"No," King Boo acceded with a resigned sort of bitterness, "I'm not your father. Your father is a raging, homicidal sociopath."
"And he would have been taken care of if you hadn't interfered!" Ludwig retorted remorselessly.
The king shook his head and couldn't bring himself to be angry with the boy. True, his words hurt but King Boo had been dealing with Ludwig for years, he knew the boy was only lashing out after a lifetime of pain and neglect.
He seemed to plead when he asked, "Won't you see reason?"
"Won't you just-"
Ludwig suddenly grabbed his stomach and doubled over from a flash of intense, stabbing pain. He growled against it and King Boo reached a hand towards him with benevolent intentions. Ludwig slapped his hand away and stumbled backwards a few steps. He got to his knees because there was an attack going on inside his body that he just couldn't fight.
"I can't believe you would do this to me!" Ludwig choked out amidst the anguish.
His body hurt like hell, but the most painful wound was that this blow was being dealt by King Boo. He'd come to trust the king and even love him as he'd loved his siblings. Now all he felt was betrayal and pain, so much pain and heartache. Ludwig cried out when more agony befell his insides and crawled backwards on his hands to the nearest wall. King Boo just stood and watched, knowing the young sorcerer wouldn't allow him to come any closer.
"I don't fucking believe this!" Ludwig again declared in a moan.
He leaned against the wall gripping his stomach. His hair was mussed from it rubbing against the floor and the wall and his face was contorted in torment, both corporal and spiritual. Ludwig didn't know it, but King Boo could see the tears welling up in his emerald eyes. In pants Ludwig breathed shallowly and gazed at King Boo with raw fury and accusation and a thousand other emotions in those icy eyes.
"Ludwig-"
"No!" Ludwig croaked, then spat, "I don't want to hear it! You're worse than him, you know that? You're so much worse!"
Not that did hurt, and it showed on King Boo's face.
Nothing less than I deserve, King Boo frowned. I should have done something before things got to this point. I just wanted to let the boy make his own decisions. I was hoping he'd make wiser choices but it seems that I, the Lord of Illusions, was the most disillusioned one of all..
Ludwig forced himself to stand and watching that act of defiance made King Boo feel like the soul he didn't have was splitting in half. He concocted that poison himself, he knew what it would do to the body if one were to fight against it; the pain would only get worse. Ludwig shielded his face from showing any sort of reaction to the ever-increasing agony inside him and steadied his trembling body.
"Ludwig-"
"Go to Hell," Ludwig snarled with a nasty scowl curling his mouth.
He shot his hand forward and expended energy he couldn't afford to waste towards King Boo. The immortal dodged that attack and many more that Ludwig shot his way. Hex after jinx after curse Ludwig sent flying, aiming to do anything from maim to kill. He was blindly lashing out and King Boo didn't have it in him to do more than evade and defend himself. Ludwig was killing himself slowly with each and every attack.
"Fight back!" He yelled, leaning on one of the chairs for support.
Ludwig had managed to peel the paint off the walls, snap and dismantle the candle chandelier, tear up the floorboards and crack the marble columns around him. The table was set on fire and the Boos were all hiding huddled in the corners, phasing in and out of the walls fearfully. King Boo knew the destruction was nothing his magic couldn't repair, but was heartbroken to see the magnitude of Ludwig's emotional distress. It was only by the waning reserves of the Dark King's power that he was still-
There was a loud thud as Ludwig's body collapsed.
He had exhausted himself to death. He'd raged until there wasn't a drop of energy in his body to keep his heart pumping anymore and now lay motionless on the surface of what used to be the dining room floor.
King Boo went over to him, stepping carefully over broken glass and pieces of the ceiling. He was sure to extinguish the various spots of fire blazing around the room as he bent down over Ludwig's prone body. In addition to the angry expression, there was moisture all over his face; more tears. With shaking hands, Boo reached forward and picked him up, then carried him from the ruined dining room upstairs to the room where his gallery lay. He shut the door behind him.
Downstairs, a child coughed.
Well, I wish I could have fleshed that out a bit more, but oh well. I just wanted to convey that last encounter with King Boo and Ludwig as being extremely painful and heart-wrenching, because it killed Boo to do that to Ludwig. However, all is not as it seems.
Hate to leave you on a cliff hanger, but I got to end it here. Don't worry, everything you could possibly want to know will be addressed in the next story, I promise!
Since this is over, I will explain to you the title. I think I told everybody that Finite Incantantum was Latin for, 'end this curse', and it was relevant to the first story in two main ways. One, Luigi had a 'curse' of depression over his life that was ended when he fell in love with Daisy. Another one was, of course, the marital 'curse' Mario and Peach were suffering from with all the strife and arguing.
Then there were other ways it was relevant, like with the Composition Curse and Bowser's cursed obsession with women; well, with Peach it was just an obsession, but with Daisy it was a curse because it often came back to bite him, like the many times Daisy fought back and managed to do some real damage to his body and ego.
In this story, Copper Possession was chosen as the title because of various reasons. I would say the main reason was because Ludwig and Bowser were bound by blood before he stole the king's power as father and son, and bound spiritually afterwards, when the power started to affect his mind and body; that's where the possession comes in. Bowser was, in essence, possessing Ludwig to an extent because his subconscious mind was merging with Ludwig's.
Some other ways it was relevant was in the way Luigi got possessed by King Boo and how Bowser used his bond with his blood relative, Junior, to store his active mind. And also there was blood in this story. A lot of blood references. I think I only mentioned copper a couple of times, though.
Oh well, that's it! I guess I'll see you guys next time when I post the first chapter of the next story!
Until then...
~DymondGold~