Chapter 4 Invisibility

Ludwig stared into the empty mirror. His heart pounded, and he felt like he was right on the cusp of fainting. How... how was this possible? It didn't make any sense on any level! This... this wasn't real! There's no way this was real! This had to be a dream. Yeah, yeah, that's what this was. That was the only possibility that made any semblance of sense. Closing his eyes, Ludwig pinched himself right on the arm. He counted to ten in his head. When he opened his eyes, he would be back in his room. He would just be waking up, and would finally be allowed to recover from the countless sleepless nights he had to endure.

Eight, nine, ten. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the ceiling of his bedroom, maybe even hear Lemmy either snoring or yawning. Unfortunately, the sight that lay before was exactly the same as before: the mirror that refused to show even a smidge of Ludwig's appearance. Ludwig bit his lip as his breathing rate sped up. He tried not to let it get out of control, for the last thing he needed right now was a panic attack.

"Okay." He muttered. He put his hand to his head. "Okay, so I'm invisible." He took a deep breath, rising a few inches into the air when he let it out. "I'm... invisible."

The more he thought about the reality of the situation, the more aware he became of how this wasn't ideal in any way. He could not go around life being invisible! There were just too many scenarios that would be rendered inconvenient at best. He imagined sitting at the dinner table, with everyone staring at the food being picked up and appearing to float in midair. He thought about dating, where no woman would ever get to see him for what he was. He thought about his music career. Oh goodness gracious, how would his music career be impacted by this? If he was invisible, then he wouldn't be able to conduct any of his symphonies! The orchestra and the audience would just be confused about what to do!

Oh no, Ludwig was starting to hyperventilate! He put his hand to his chest, deciding to think about how this could benefit him instead of hinder him. Hmm... battles against Mario would probably be a breeze with this condition, as Mario would have no idea where he was, and therefore couldn't bounce on his head. That would be cool... but it wouldn't make up for everything else.

So no, Ludwig didn't want to remain invisible. He wanted to find out the cause of this and put a stop to it once and for all. A daunting task... until he remembered he knew one koopa who would definitely know what to do to fix this mess.

"Iggy!"

Without saying another word, Ludwig rushed towards Iggy's lab. Running through the hall, he almost bumped into several different koopa troopa servants. He managed to weave around most of them, but the close calls did ramp up his anxiety. So, he took to the air. This made the journey toward Iggy's lab so much easier that he wondered why he hadn't done it initially. And thanks to this simple yet genius idea, he got to the lab without any trouble. He let out a breath when he landed in front of the lab door. He was just about to knock when he began to wonder how Iggy was going to react to this development. Was he going to go off-the-walls crazy? Was he going to ask to study Ludwig to find out more about how this curse? Was he going to freak out? Was he going to do inappropriate things, thus making this already terrible situation even worse?

He hesitated when he had those thoughts before ultimately pushing them to the side. Those thoughts, while worrisome, weren't enough to deter him. He wanted to be visible again. He didn't care what he had to go through in order for that to happen.

So, he knocked on the door. "Iggy?" There was no answer. This didn't necessarily mean anything; when Iggy was engaged with a project, he tuned out everyone and everything. Sometimes, one could bang on his door for hours and he still wouldn't come. So, Ludwig rammed all his weight against the door, not even caring if he would break it down. "Iggy, I need to talk to you!"

Still, there was no answer. Ludwig held back a frustrated groan and opened the door anyway. The lab on the other side was as still and as quiet as a graveyard. Ludwig, feeling his frustration continue to build, went in. He checked several parts of the lab, but still, his brother was nowhere to be seen.

"Son of a bitch, where is he?"

It was once he said that that Ludwig remembered that there was a storage closet in the lab; the "Chasm of Death" as the Koopalings called it (Iggy had used the place to test stink bombs at one point, which created a scent nearly impossible to stomach). Despite his better judgment, Ludwig gulped, shuddered, and entered the closet. Just like he had feared, the place stunk worse than any garbage dump. Ludwig almost gagged, the stench entering him and making him feel like he needed to shower right away. Iggy, you'd better be in here or things aren't going to be pretty.

Unfortunately, Iggy wasn't in there either. Not a single trace of him was found except for his phone, which lay on the ground next to a container of liquid nitrogen. This sight frustrated Ludwig, as it told him that he couldn't call Iggy to find out where he was either.

"Damn it!" Ludwig said. He grabbed hold of a lock of his hair and pulled on it. He wanted to scream; he honest to goodness wanted to scream.

"Master Ludwig? Are you in here?"

Ludwig's blood froze in its tracks. He slowly turned around and Hikaru, one of the koopa troopa servants. As Hikaru glanced around the closet, she had this look of fear in her eyes. No doubt that the lack of Ludwig's presence when his voice had been clearly heard was making her jumpy. As such, Ludwig couldn't help but feel a little jumpy too. If she found out that he was invisible... oh, all hell would break loose. She would have the same reaction Nelson had amplified to a billion. Ludwig didn't know if he could handle that. He didn't want anyone in the castle panicking, as having that happen would just make the horrid emotions he had in his current state all the more unmanageable.

So, he stayed silent. Hikaru stepped in, sweat beads visible on her face. Ludwig sweated too and could barely even breathe. Right as he was about to have an anxiety attack, Hikaru stepped on Iggy's phone. Blinking, she picked it up and pushed a button

"Hey, Iggy," Ludwig heard his own voice say through the voice message system. "If you heard this, it means that you were lazy and didn't pick up your phone. Please give me a call as soon as possible."

Hikaru let out a breath. "I guess all I heard was the phone."

Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief himself. Thank. Goodness. It felt as though a thousand-ton weight had just been taken off of his shoulders.

Things only got better when Hikaru turned toward the exit. "I should probably bring this back to Master Iggy."

Ludwig did a fist pump. Yes! Thank you so much! he thought. Things were looking up now! All he had to do was follow Hikaru toward Iggy, and he would be able to get fixed! Oh, it seemed like the universe had decided to be kind to him for once!

So, with the quietness of a mouse and the stealth of a ninja, he followed Hikaru out of the lab. Thankfully, it didn't take her long to find Iggy, (much to Ludwig's ever-rising relief) as he was in the entrance hall. He just stood there looking at the door, probably not even aware that he was missing his phone (or that he had an invisible brother).

"Master Iggy!

Iggy's head spun around. "Yes, Hikaru?" Hikaru held out his phone, which in turn caused him to smile and make a happy little noise. "Oh! I've been looking for that! Where was it?"

"In your storage closet."

Iggy snickered. "Ah, the Chasm of Death. I can't believe I forgot to check there." He took his phone and put it in his hammerspace. "Well, may you have a nice day, Hikaru."

Hikaru grinned and hopped away. This just left Iggy alone, unaware that his eldest brother was in his immediate presence. Taking a breath, Ludwig approached. He was just about to tap Iggy on the shoulder when a scream came from down the hall. Both Koopalings jumped, and Ludwig felt a pit form in his stomach when he saw that the scream came from Nelson. With tears and his eyes and his breathing rate far too fast, he ran over to Iggy.

"Master Iggy, Master Iggy!"

"Nelson?" Iggy leaned down to Nelson's level once the servant was close enough, and he wore a furrowed brow while putting his hand on his shoulder. "What is the issue?"

Just listening to Nelson hyperventilate made Ludwig want to pass out. "I just... I just…" He wheezed. Ludwig cringed at this site, especially since he was aware of the cause of it. There's...there's a ghost in the castle!"

"A ghost?" Iggy asked with a blink. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I encountered one! In the hallway!" His breathing rate sped up again. "They... they talked to me... and they put a haunted box in my hand... I could feel them breathing on me..."

Ludwig had to roll his eyes and snicker at that last sentence. Seriously, a ghost breathing?

"Hmm," Iggy said. He put his hand to his chin. While appearing skeptical more than anything else, Ludwig also knew that he was critically thinking about the situation. "Well, this is certainly peculiar." He looked back down at Nelson. "I will be sure to look into this."

Nelson sighed in relief. "Thank you very much." He walked away; wiping sweat off his brow as he did. Once he was gone, Iggy stood back up. He scratched his head.

"A ghost? What in the world is he talking about?"

Not wasting a single second, Ludwig stepped closer. "He's talking about me."

Iggy gasped. "Ludwig?" He turned around with wide eyes. When he saw no trace of his brother, he started to look worried. "Whe...where are you?"

"Right here." Ludwig stepped closer and flicked Iggy across the cheek.

"Oww!" Iggy rubbed the wound, still looking around. He looked ready to scream, turning every which way only to see absolutely nothing "Where?"

"Not there." Ludwig stepped behind Iggy. "Look this way!"

Ludwig grabbed hold of Iggy's face and turned him toward him. With his cheeks being smushed in Ludwig's hold, Iggy looked like he was questioning everything that he had ever known. "What is happening?"

"Oh, you mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Ludwig asked, finally letting Iggy go. "Well here's a hint for you: I'M INVISIBLE!"

Iggy's jaw dropped. He adjusted his glasses as he stood back up. "You...you are invisible!" He put his hand on Ludwig's chest, letting his arms travel up to Ludwig's face. A smile slowly grew on his bewildered face "This...this is incredible! This is so exciting!"

"Exciting?" Ludwig's own jaw dropped. He pointed to his face "Do I look excited? No! I DON'T LOOK LIKE ANYTHING!"

Iggy pulled away. He looked like he wanted to say every last thing under the sun but was having trouble articulating it. "I...I..." he eventually managed to say a full sentence. "How did you even get like this?"

"I don't know!" Ludwig exclaimed. He began to panic as he recalled the events that led up to this moment. "I was just walking down the hallway when all of a sudden, I'm invisible!"

"Hmm." Iggy put his hand to his chin again. "That is pretty peculiar." He looked into Ludwig's face (by some miracle). "And you have no idea how this event was able to transpire?"

"Absolutely none," Ludwig said as he shook his head.

"I see." A smile grew on Iggy's lips. "Still though, this is quite an interesting development. I cannot say I have ever encountered anything like this! I think I should examine you to..." Ludwig kicked him in the legs. "Oww!" He picked himself up, scowling as he did. "Okay okay, we will not go that route."

"No, we most certainly won't!" Ludwig put his hands on Iggy's shoulders. "But Iggy, you've gotta help me! I can't be invisible for the rest of my life! Do you know how hard it's going to be to conduct an orchestra if the musicians can't see me?"

Iggy raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's your biggest concern? right now"

"Among other things!" Ludwig exclaimed. He pulled his hands off of Iggy. "I still can't stay like this!"

Iggy nodded. "You're right. You are absolutely right." He thought about this some more before gesturing to Ludwig. "Alright, follow me to the lab."