Chapter 12 Running From Your Fears

Ludwig and Lemmy bolted out of their bedroom, coughing as the smoke seeped out of the room and into the hallway. The scent... oh dear Lord, the scent. Ludwig coughed more times in that one minute than he had during the last time he came down with a cold. Battling the anxieties growing and threatening to become as dark as the smoke, Ludwig looked down at his hands. They glowed red, a color that had only ever been seen in his eyes. Shaking, Ludwig tried his best not to collapse. Stabbing, sharp pains pierced through his forehead, the sensation comparable to being shot. He put his hand to his forehead, hoping to apply pressure to the sore spots, but he noticed the carpet. It burned, being eaten by the ever-climbing, ferociously hungry blue flames. This sight, combined with the fact that the smoke was entering his lungs, made breathing an impossibility for Ludwig. Electric currents flowed over his head as he collapsed to his knees. He put his hand to his chest, sweating as the blue flames inched dangerously close to his skin.

"Ludwig!" Lemmy called out. He ran over to his brother, trying to help lift him up while avoiding his glowing hands. Ludwig coughed some more, finding that his legs wobbled and his pain grew stronger. Little flashes of lightning shot down from the overhead electrical currents, making the carpet burn with an orange flame in addition to the blue. Ludwig whimpered, closing his eyes. This... this...

"What's going on?"

Ludwig's guilt reached the O-zone when he saw four of his other siblings coming out into the hallway. Larry immediately coughed, put his hands to his mouth, and looked to have the most trouble out of anyone trying to breathe. Roy removed his shades, gawking at the fire. Wendy and Morton rushed over to Ludwig, both of them donning a fear that made their pupils two sizes too small.

"Ludwig, what's happening?" Wendy asked as she put her hands around his left arm.

"I..." Hot tears built up in his eyes, burning him in ways that the fire could only dream of. He tried once again to talk, but again couldn't. He couldn't even look at the siblings surrounding him because he had a thought. A horrific, unthinkable thought.

They could die in this incident.

"Guys..." His voice had enough rasp to rival that of a thirty-year smoker. He began to shake as Iggy came out of the lab, fear reflected in his bespectacled eyes when he witnessed the scene.

"HOLY COW!" He rushed over to Larry and Roy. He said something to them that was too quiet to be comprehensible, but if Ludwig were to guess, he would say that he was telling them to get out of the castle. His theory was proven right when Roy and Larry rushed toward the stairs. Iggy didn't join them, instead rushing over to Ludwig as Lemmy, Wendy, and Morton did their best to help him up.

"Ludwig..." Tears built in Iggy's eyes, tears that were no doubt caused by the stress. "Ludwig, you said you could take care of this! You said you could sleep!'

A deep, spiritual pain filled the oldest Koopaling. He directed his eyes down to the ground. He... he did say that, didn't he? Sniffling, he tried once again to speak. The action hurt just as much as the initial pain.

"Iggy... I..."

More electrical currents zapped the carpet. Wendy shrieked as one hit her in the shoulder, and to the horror of her brothers, she collapsed to the ground unconscious. And if that wasn't bad enough already, the fire grew. It reached the ceiling, which was saying a lot because the ceiling was at least thirty feet high. Ludwig's heart pounded in his ears when he saw this. Sweat covered his body, and it only grew stronger when he saw his brothers. All of them... Iggy, Morton, Lemmy... if he didn't get out of here, they wouldn't survive. If he didn't get out of here, he would have their blood on his hands.

So, still shaking, he rose to his feet and began to run. He panted, immediately realizing that he had no hope of running at top speed with how physically drained he was.

"Ludwig!" Iggy called out. "Where are you going?"

"I... I have to get out of here!"

"But Ludwig..."

"Iggy, please! You don't know what you're dealing with!"

Unfortunately, that line didn't have the effect on Iggy that Ludwig desired. He rushed toward him, and because he wasn't running at top speed, Iggy caught up with Ludwig easily.

"Ludwig..." he grabbed hold of Ludwig's hand, which was a big mistake. He shrieked, the sound ear-piercing, and pulled back, holding his hand as tears fell like a waterfall. Ludwig looked at his hand and winced. The palm was bright red.

Tears built in Ludwig's eyes. His heartbeat drowned out all other sounds, beating down on him like a hydraulic press. Battling the tears, Ludwig took a deep breath and rose into the air. He didn't even bother trying to reach the front door anymore; that was too far away. If he wanted to get away from his siblings as quickly as possible, he needed to find another exit.

He saw the window.

Ludwig didn't stop for anything, zipping toward the window like a lightning bolt. Holding out his hand, he sent a stream of red fire toward the glass, blowing it off its hinges. Panting, he flew out into the open, fresh air. He coughed, but thankfully, the outside air was clear enough to help him breathe easier. Granted, that wasn't saying much, but the smidge of relief the sensation of breathing allowed him to go forward.

He flew away, not bothering to look back. He whimpered at least three times, his mind on his family and everyone else in the castle. What if the fire spread? What if some of the servants were injured or killed? What would happen to Bowser? What would happen to Junior? What would happen to Kamek and the other Koopalings? Oh, he felt sick to his stomach when he asked himself that question. Once again, his heartbeat pounded away. The sharp, bullet-like sensations returned to his head. Wincing, he put his hand to his head. He almost fell out of the sky from how horrible this pain was.

It was a good thing he didn't though, as one of the nearby volcanoes erupted. As if breathing inside the castle wasn't difficult enough, now smog filled the sky. A plethora of flaming hot stones rained down, crashing into the ground and leaving pools of bright orange lava. Ludwig actually screamed when he saw this. His fear climbed, as his mind immediately jumped to what this meant. He could die. He probably was going to die. Sure, that might not be the worst thing in the world. Him dying would stop his powers from going haywire...

Ludwig instantly caught himself. Slapping himself across the face, he rose back into the air and flew through the smoggy haze. It was a good thing he mastered his flying power, as he maneuvered out of the way. He had some close calls, but for the most part, he managed to stay in the air. By the time he got to Stonebrim, he thought he was in the clear.

He couldn't have been more wrong. The second he stopped, a stone landed on his head at terminal velocity. Screaming, he fell to the ground. He landed on the roof of someone's house, hitting it with a painful THUNK. Groaning, he rolled off of it down to the ground. Lying on the ground, he tried to breathe. His head hurt more than it had ever hurt before. Even the bullet-piercing stings from his migraine earlier couldn't compare to this potential concussion.

"What the hell?"

Ludwig's breathing slowed down. It was a little hard to tell considering everything seemed hazy at the moment, but he could hear the door to the house opening. The owner, a koopa troopa, rushed over to him. His eyes grew wide when he stood over him.

"Prince Ludwig?" He approached carefully, holding out his hand. "Prince Ludwig, are you..."

Despite hurting in multiple different ways, Ludwig bolted to his feet. "St... Stay away from me!" He held out his hands. "Please, you can't stay..."

Another stream of fire burst out of his hands. It didn't hit the troopa (thank Grambi), but it did come close. With the tip of his shoe smoking, the troopa jumped back. Now, as they looked at their prince, they had the strongest type of fear in their eyes. They probably thought that they were going to die.

Ludwig ran away. The ground sizzled like bacon in a pan with each step he took, but he didn't stop. He wasn't going to stop for anything. He tried rising into the air, but whether it be because of his sleep deprivation or his concussion, he couldn't do it. He was forced to run, forced to deal with terror that reached the closest galaxy.

"AAH!"

He skidded to a halt. Please no. His heart wasn't pounding anymore so much as racing, and through the haze, Ludwig prayed to any God that could possibly exist in his head. Please don't let this...

He turned around, and his heart stopped. Several koopas and goombas bolted out of a house being eaten by blue fire. That would've been a terrifying sight on its own, but Ludwig so more coming out of the house who had fire consuming their bodies. Their screams... Ludwig had only heard screams like that one other time.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. He didn't go help; with how horribly his powers were acting up, the chances of him hurting these people even more severely were sky-high. He had only one real option at this moment, and that was to run. He ran and ran and ran. The volcano erupted again when he did, sending more rocks raining down. He swerved to dodge them, eventually finding himself in an alleyway. The fact that he was submerged in darkness and stuck between two buildings brought him no comfort, however. He still needed to run, he still needed to...

"AAH!" Ludwig tripped over a trash bag he had no chance of seeing, falling to the ground. His face smushed itself in the dirt, adding the fact that he was dirty to his growing list of problems. He tried to lift himself up, but he was too weak. He couldn't stand, he could hardly even move. The only thing he could do was roll over onto his back. Panting with wide eyes, he looked up into the smoggy sky. Should he be scared of it? Should he be comforted by it? He didn't know; the pain in his head grew. Shakily lifting his arm, he put his hand to his forehead, discovering an oozing cut. He sniffled when he saw the red, the color not too dissimilar to the current color of his pyrokinetic flames.

He heard more screams in the distance, so loud and so frequent that they completely drowned out his heartbeat. The scent of burning wood and burning flesh filled the air. The fire was no doubt spreading, both taking and ruining lives. And Ludwig was completely useless when it came to stopping it. He stared up into the sky, hurting in every way possible. He should be getting up, he should be running, but...

Ludwig looked down at his left hand, still glowing red. He looked down at his right hand, glowing red while covered in his own blood. Whimpering, he started to cry. He wasn't normally someone who cried, but he didn't care about that at that moment.

"Why?" he asked himself. "Why... why..." his sleep deprivation was so severe that he couldn't even finish asking the question. All he could do was lie there in the dirt. The sound of sirens mixed with the sounds of screaming, reaching decibel levels that rivaled Ludwig's own symphonies. But these weren't symphonies that Ludwig liked listening to. These were symphonies filled with pain and regret. They could drive a person crazy, they could drive the strongest hearts to suicide. This was the soundtrack playing over Ludwig's rotten life, and he couldn't possibly think of anything more fitting.

Ludwig kept on crying. Pieces of trash caught fire, but he didn't even bother moving. If the fire spread toward him and consumed him, that was perfectly fine. That would be a fitting end for him; dying in a pile of burning trash. Was there humor in this situation? No. Was there irony? Possibly, but... oh, Ludwig didn't even care if there was at this point. He closed his eyes, the tears still flowing. He wished that this could end already.

"Ludwig."

Gasping, Ludwig looked up. Kamek stood over him with wand in hand. He wore a furrowed brow, an expression so unlike him that Ludwig wondered if he was hallucinating.

"Kamek?" Ludwig tried to move, tried to speak. His body hurt too much and his voice was too slurred. "What... what are..."

"Shh." Kamek crouched over Ludwig's form. "It's going to be okay." He got a wipe out of his robe pocket and wiped at the cut on his forehead. "It's going to be alright. Just try to relax."

Ludwig slowly blinked. This... this... what was this? What was actually happening?

"Kamek..."

"Shh." Kamek held his wand over the eldest Koopaling. "Duerme lulli shuteye."