AN: Hello everyone! You all look really nice today. I can tell… (dun dun DUN!).

Lol anyway, I'm actually kind of proud of myself in regards to both this story as well as the last one. Why? Well, finishing episode 34 marks the first time in a while that I managed to finish a Super Koopalings episode before starting on the next one. Seriously! Normally, I publish the next story when I'm just a few chapters away from finishing the current one! So, I'm proud of myself. It took some self control, but I managed to do it successfully. :D

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this story, "Reunited!"

Chapter 1 An Interesting Life

For the last few weeks, as Ludwig von Koopa and Aria Shellcreep officially settled into actually being a couple, things had been going quite well. It seemed that everyone Ludwig had run into was extremely happy and/or proud of him. His siblings would always smile whenever they asked how Aria was doing. Bowser and Kamek would give him sly grins, wanting to hear as much about Aria as possible (excluding all the icky stuff). And Ludwig himself? He felt good; arguably much better than he had ever felt in… well, his entire life. Call it a honeymoon period, call it whatever is appropriate; Ludwig currently felt as though there was nothing wrong with his life. He was with the girl of his dreams, could it honestly get any better than that?

Because he was so happy, and because Aria seemed to share in his glee, the two of them had been going on dates constantly. That's how they found themselves in the center of a romantic restaurant, dimly lit but with an excellently crafted atmosphere. Ludwig sat across from Aria, chowing down on a six ounce sirloin steak (rest in peace to the moo moo that had been sacrificed to get it). He ate it carefully, savoring both it as well as the loaded mashed potatoes on the side. He also made sure to talk with his new girlfriend, for there was a lot that he wished to tell her.

"So, wait wait, let me get this straight," Aria smiled as she took a bite of her spaghetti. "You ran into two different duplighosts on two different occasions?"

"Yep." Ludwig cut a piece of his steak and stuck into his mouth, realizing that he immensely appreciated the seasoning that had been sprinkled on it. It really did bring the dish together; made it feel more complete and hearty.

"Man." Aria shook her head, disbelief present in her features. "That's absolutely insane." She pushed a strand of her sky-blue hair out of her face and looked straight at Ludwig with her glimmering purple eyes. "What ended up happening during these times?"

Ludwig frowned, almost dropping his fork. Recalling these events… well, it wasn't something that he particularly liked doing because… well, let's just say that his stomach still churned as he thought about what had happened. Even still, he was more than willing to tell his girlfriend because… well, he wanted her to know him better. He wanted her to know about the story of his life; his interesting, upside-down life.

"Well, with the first one I managed to come out relatively unscathed." He took a sip of his water. "Emphasis on relatively though, because the whole thing made me swap bodies with Lemmy."

Aria almost spat out her own drink as he snickered. "Wait, what?" she asked, looking like she was going to burst into laughter.

Ludwig felt his face grow warm. "Yeah, that's about the kind of reaction I've come to expect from people." He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. "But believe you me, as funny as it might sound on paper, it was not… I repeat, NOT a pleasant experience. When you're in someone else's body… well, you see things. Things that you wish you could unsee, things that you wish could leave your consciousness as you try to go to sleep at night."

Aria snickered. "I can imagine." She still chuckled, which got her a glare from her new boyfriend. "Sorry! Sorry, I know I shouldn't be laughing. It's just… it's just fun to imagine."

"Mmhm," Ludwig said. He took another sip of his water, all without taking his eyes off Aria. Once she finally managed to get her act together, he put the cup back down on the table. "Now, as for the second time I ran into a duplighost…. Well, just like the first one, it tried to steal my body. And… unfortunately, this one proved to be successful."

"Oh." Ludwig could see visible tremors and shivers running up and down Aria's arms. "That…" she looked down at her hands, her expression morphing into one of discomfort as she wiggled her fingers. "Man, I can't even imagine what that was like. Being without a body…"

"Yeah," Ludwig said. "Trust me when I say that having that happen to me actually made me long for the days when I was in Lemmy's body." He shuddered. "Man, I never realized how scary that sentence was until I said it just now." He took a bite of his mashed potatoes. "Luckily for me, since Lemmy did come looking for me, I did get to experience controlling his body again." Aria gave him a puzzled look. "The reason being was because I figured out a way to jump into the bodies of different beings. Being a specter kind of gives you that power."

"I see." Aria chuckled. "Well, all I can say is, you're lucky no demon hunters found you while you were in that state. If they heard that a rogue spirit was wandering the world, they would have tracked you down immediately and tried to bust you once and for all."

"Bust me, huh?" Ludwig snickered at her choice of words. "Maybe your profession should have the name 'ghost busters.'"

Aria laughed. "That would've been something else, now wouldn't it?" She twirled her fork around in her spaghetti, twisting the noodles around it. "And, for what it's worth, I'm glad that didn't happen. I like having you here." Her eyes glittered as she looked at him. "And in the flesh."

"Oh, I am too. Believe me Aria, I never want to be separated from my body again for as long as I live." He smirked. "Or have it be transformed into an animal again."

Aria blinked. "Wait, what do you mean 'again?'"

Ludwig laughed. "I got turned into a cat once." Aria gave him a stunned look, prompting him to continue. "I once ran across this magikoopa who was taking care of this elderly koopa lady whose mind he had royally fucked over."

"Hey!" Aria exclaimed, her face turning red. "Language!"

"Oh," Ludwig said. "Sorry." Aria had informed him on their second date that swearing of any kind made her feel really uncomfortable, so Ludwig had decided right then and there that he would go out of his way to try and stop doing it. He would say he's been successful for the most part… except that he had sworn in front of his girlfriend three times already (this time was the fourth). Man, he never realized how difficult trying to break habits was before, but now he was starting to sympathize with those who battled with addictions and bad habits. Something that he had never really done before.

Aria sighed. "It's okay." The smile returned to her face. "Anyway, you may continue."

"Thanks." Ludwig cut away at his steak, which was more or less a few bites away from being completely gone. "Anyway, the woman had been impacted by the Frostwall incident, so she went to the magikoopa to have the memories of the duel timelines be taken care of. Well…" Ludwig stuck the juicy bite in his mind. "Unfortunately, he wasn't really that skilled with memory erasure, so he ended up giving her early onset dementia."

Aria gasped. "That's awful!"

Ludwig felt a pang. "Yes. It was." He shook his head. "However, what the magikoopa decided to do after that was even worse. He cornered random people, turned them into cats, and made them serve as therapy animals for the woman." He sighed, the sound laced with sadness. "He had done this to thirty koopas, including me."

Aria's face turned a little green. "That really is awful." She looked Ludwig right in the eye. "Please at least tell me that magikoopa is now in jail!"

Ludwig smiled. "Thankfully, he is. My family found us cats and fought back against the magikoopa so that Kamek could turn us all back."

Aria put her hand to her chest. "Oh, thank the lumas." She giggled. "I'm glad about that. I hate the idea of you having to live as a cat for the rest of your life."

Ludwig shuddered. "Oh, believe me, I am too." He grinned at her. "I never would've come across you again if that had been the case."

Aria blushed, an action that Ludwig found to be absolutely adorable. It was true though; this incident was the main reason that he went back down to Frostwall a few months prior, which just so happened to be where Aria was (she had been celebrating her father's birthday). She saw him in the city, and after that… well, the rest, as they say, was history. For that reason, he didn't hate him being turned into a cat. Sure, it had been a horrible incident to occur, but some good had come out of it. The same could be said for the time when he had been separated from his body by a duplighost, as well as a whole slew of other events that had occurred in his life. He supposed, on that level, his life could be considered beautiful. Not even the most hopeless situations were completely devoid of hope for him.

Aria giggled. "I suppose, if that's the case, I am very happy that those horrible things happened to you." She shook her head while cringing. "Wow, that probably sounds really bad out of context."

Ludwig chortled. "It's okay. I still got the message." Right at that moment, the waiter came by with the check. Ludwig and Aria hurriedly finished their dishes, and Ludwig went to pay (Aria had paid for the last two dates, he supposed his returning the favor was more than a little overdue). Once he paid, the two of them made their way out of the restaurant. Ludwig smiled as he stepped outside. Sure, it wasn't the most pretty of days, as unfortunately, there had been a volcanic eruption somewhere in the Koopa Kingdom. That meant that there was smog everywhere, covering the land like the worst, most unsightly, most smelly type of blanket imaginable.

Even still, Ludwig considered this a good day. A lot of days had been that way since he reconnected with started dating Aria. Just being with her… it put a smile on his face and a spark in his heart. He placed his hand on her shoulder as they walked through the town, an action that got a delighted grin out of his new girlfriend.

"You know, I have to say," Aria said. "You have an interesting life."

Ludwig nodded. "That I do. For better or for worse is still up to debate though."

Aria laughed. "That is true." She looked back at him. "Is there anything else that happened in your life that you would consider interesting enough to talk about?"

Ludwig laughed. "Oh, where to start?" With a noticeable enthusiasm, he began recalling some of the highlights to Aria, most of which he noted happened in the more recent years. "Let's see. One time, I got cursed by an idiot magikoopa, which turned my skin pink and gave me cotton candy and bubble powers." He cringed. "Still amazed that I managed to find use out of those horrendous attributes."

Aria snorted. "Oh man, how I wish I could've been there. Getting a picture of you with pink skin would have been great to blackmail you with."

Now it was Ludwig's turn to snort. "Gee, thanks." He delved right back into recalling stories about his life as Aria laughed. "There was also this one time where I used one of my brother's machines to go into the internet." He chuckled. "I used that same machine later on to enter into the worlds of some TV shows."

Aria's eyes grew wide. "Okay, THAT sounds AWESOME!" She grinned at him, looking extra excited. "Do you still have that device? I would love to do that sometime!"

"Uh…" Ludwig shook his head. "Unfortunately, we destroyed that device after we got out of the TV set. Figured it was far too much trouble than it was worth."

"Oh." Aria directed her eyes down toward the ground. "Drat."

"Yes, drat." Ludwig put his hand to his chin. "Let's see; what else is there to talk about…? Oh, duh!" He slapped himself on the head, not really believing that he had completely forgotten about this. "Iggy invented another machine a while back! A clone machine, to be more precise!"

Aria smirked. "Ooh, I like where this is going…"

Ludwig beamed. "Well, I accidentally used the machine, and as a result, I have a clone now!" He giggled as he looked into Aria's fascinated eyes. "His name is Bob. And let me tell you, he is one of the sweetest people you'll ever come across." He continued smiling. "Now, that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with me, but considering that he was born from my DNA…" he shrugged. "Well, I don't think it's too much of a stretch for me to be proud of him."

Aria laughed right alongside him. "That's great!" Once their laughter died down, she asked a question. "Would it be at all possible for me to meet Bob?"

"Uh…" Ludwig thought about this before smiling. "Sure! He lives in Sparksville, so I don't see why not! I'll just call him and ask him about what time is best for him!"

"Great!" Aria kissed him on the cheek. "I'll look forward to it."

Ludwig smiled and nodded. He knew he would do the same thing. After all, it felt like eons since he had last seen Bob. And hey, since he now had a girlfriend, he supposed introducing Aria to Bob would be more than appropriate.

Note to self, he thought. Call Bob as soon as I get home.

AN: I swear, I didn't intend to have four Ludwig episodes back to back. Sorry about that guys. For what it's worth, this one will probably focus more on Aria than Ludwig himself. And, the next few SK episodes after this will revolve on a completely different Koopaling. I hope you all look forward to that.

Well, that's the first chapter. Stay tuned for chapter 2! :)