Chapter 21 Call in the Clouds

It was nearing noon, a fact that the blazing, uncovered sun up ahead was all too eager to remind Ludwig of. He didn't mind that though. He had gotten used to the weather of World 7 and even got used to the intense bouts of solar glare. So, he wasn't frustrated by this. What he WAS frustrated about was the fact that he had searched three different towns over the course of the past four hours and still hadn't found Junior. At this point, the inability to locate his youngest sibling did more than just frustrate Ludwig. It actively made him sad, made him fearful and desperate. His anxieties climbed in ways that just a few days ago would've seemed impossible.

That was why, when noon finally hit, Ludwig felt as though it was time to catch a break. He lowered himself to the ground right outside a town called Breezeville, taking a seat on a fluffy cloud. This… oh man, this was better than any pillow. The softness of the cloud helped Ludwig out a lot, more so than he would've expected. So, he just sat still for a few minutes. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, taking in World 7's perfect air. He decided to focus on all that was good about his current situation. Ona first glance, that might not seem like a whole lot, but Ludwig could name a few things. The fact that he was in his favorite region in the Mushroom World. The fact that he now had a phone that he could use in any way he pleased. The fact that he had seen what was arguably the most fantastic and wonderful sight in the Mushroom World's history just the night before.

As he remembered that, Ludwig opened his eyes and pulled out his phone. He went to his videos, smiling a smile that made his entire body warm as he looked at the meteor shower he caught last night. Such striking vivid imagery, even with the limited camera of the cellphone. The pinks, greens, blues, ambers… every color present in this video stuck out in an awesome way. Ludwig didn't use the word "awesome" lightly, but this was an instant where the word definitely applied. No other word could accurately capture the spectacle so perfectly.

Ludwig smiled, rising from his seat and walking through World 7 as he watched the video. Honestly, he could watch this over again a million times and never get tired of it. If he was asked to choose only one video to view for the rest of his life, he would quickly and easily choose this one. There were no other options, especially because… well, Ludwig had a feeling that Junior would like this. This video paired with the toy he bought from the street vendor a few days back would be the perfect way to make amends. Especially so considering that Junior felt bad about his birth story. Wouldn't the beauty of a meteor shower be perfect when it came to distracting Junior from his troubles? Ludwig thought so, and he dared anyone to disagree with him.

BRING BRING!

Ludwig almost dropped his phone, only catching it in the nick of time. He didn't know how to feel about the fact that Wendy was calling him. Why was she even doing it in the first place? Just to chat and check up on him? Ehh… he supposed that made sense. He had been in a pretty distraught emotional state the last time he saw her. And knowing Wendy, she was more than likely concerned about his well-being, which was… sweet, he supposed. Frowning, Ludwig answered the call and put the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Wen."

"Hey." Wendy's tone of voice was… interesting. Not too happy, not too sad; it was the perfect middle ground between two emotional extremes. Ludwig bit his lip when he heard it, trying to decipher what that meant as Wendy continued talking. "How are you?"

"I'm getting there," Ludwig said, which really wasn't too far off from the truth. Without even thinking, he started walking around. "How are you? How's your search of World 4 going?"

"It's… going, I suppose. I haven't found Junior yet though." Ludwig wanted to sigh at that. "And all that fact has done for me is stress me out, so I'm currently relaxing." Wendy's voice changed from indifferent to pleased. "I'm at this GORGEOUS beach; you wouldn't believe it! It has pink sand, and these adorable little hucket crabs… oh, it's just amazing!"

"Yeah, that does sound amazing," Ludwig said, all without stopping with his walking. "You might have to send us some pictures."

"Oh, you'd better believe I will!" Wendy laughed. "This is, like, the closest thing the Mushroom World has to Paradise!"

Ludwig smirked. He could be an ass if he wanted to be, starting a detailed argument about how he thought those words more accurately applied to World 7. But he wasn't going to do that. Now wasn't the time for sibling quarrels.

"Well, you enjoy Paradise as long as you can," he said. "Considering we're looking for a needle in a planet-sized haystack, we need all the time we can get in terms of relaxing."

"Yeah, and that's the other reason why I called." Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. "I wanted to check up on you, see how you're doing. You know, in terms of the search and your… your feelings."

Ludwig frowned, still not stopping with his walk around World 7. How exactly should he answer this? Should he be honest? He had previously said to Bowser that he didn't do "touchy-feely," which just as much applied to talking about his feelings as it did helping someone work through theirs. But he just as quickly realized that there was no point in lying, as Wendy KNEW what was really happening. She was fully aware of how Ludwig felt at the beginning of the search, and it wouldn't be logical for her to assume that his feelings had changed considering that he hadn't located the crown prince.

So, he decided to be honest. "Well, I've been grappling with a lot of feelings," he said, gripping the phone extra tightly in his sweaty palm. "I mean… I feel really bad. I feel like… like this is all my fault." He let in a worried breath. "And I don't think it's possible to make an argument that it's not."

"I see." Wendy paused for a minute. "And that may be true, but… I also don't want you to feel too bad about this. Everyone in this family has a temper. We all could've snapped at Junior just as easily and quickly as you did. Especially so since he threw that glass at your head. I highly doubt anyone would be able to keep their cool after an event like that."

"That may be true." Ludwig continued walking, doing so rather aimlessly. "But still, the fact that I snapped the way I did…" he paused, his heart aching. "The fact that I said the things I said…" he sighed and put his head in his hands. "There's no excuse for that, Wendy! There really isn't!"

"Oh come on, don't be like that."

Annoyance surged through Ludwig. "I have every right to be like this! The whole family is taking part in what so far has proved to be a wild goose chase, and it's all because of me! Everyone is worried and stressed out and Junior is missing because of ME!" The hand holding the phone started to shake. "And I should've known better! I know how to be a bigger person. I KNOW how to be a good big brother! And I wasn't'! I was the exact opposite of what Junior needed in that moment, and I couldn't… AAH!"

Through his aimless wandering, Ludwig accidentally fell off one of the edges of World 7. He gasped as he activated his flying powers, working fast to telekinetically retrieve the phone before it smashed onto the ground miles below. He thankfully managed to catch it in time, but that didn't make a dent in his racing heartbeat or the rush of adrenaline surging through his veins. His hands shook even harder. "Holy heck…"

"Ludwig? Ludwig, what happened? Are you alright?"

Ludwig floated in place for a few minutes before, much to his own surprise, he began to laugh. It started out slow, mostly in the form of a stray chuckle or two. However it quickly evolved into something more than that. By the time the five minute mark had passed, his whole body shook under his laughter. His ribcage felt tickly, his stomach ached as he held onto it, and best of all, his troubles seemed smaller and smaller the longer into the laughing fit he delved.

"Ludwig, what's going on?

The eldest wiped a tear from his eyes as he held the phone back up to his ear. "I fell off the cloud!"

"You what?"

"I fell off World 7!" Ludwig laughed some more. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I fucking fell!" He laughed some more, unable to get over this. "Thank goodness I'm a special, huh?"

"Uh… yeah! Thank Grambi!" Wendy paused as Ludwig laughed some more. "That's crazy…"

"I know." Ludwig's laughter finally managed to die down so that he could rise a little bit into the air. "I guess that's what I get for focusing on the negative." He wiped another tear from his eye.

"I… suppose." Wendy paused again. "Yeah, I think you're right. Constantly thinking about how things went wrong and why they did isn't going to help us. We shouldn't focus on what caused the problem; we should focus on finding the solution."

"Couldn't agree more." Ludwig was now once again level with the cloudy ground, so he took a seat on it and allowed his feet to dangle over the edge. "And I can say there's some good things I can focus on. Here, let me send you something real quick." He went to his videos and, after a bit of fanangling, he managed to send the video of the meteor shower to Wendy.

"Oh my gosh!" Wendy said. "That's amazing!"

"Isn't it?" Ludwig giggled. "I saw that last night when I was feeling particularly bad about the search."

"Really? Ludwig, that's incredible!." Now it was Wendy's turn to giggle. "Must be a sign or something."

Ludwig smiled. "That's exactly what I thought." He leaned back a little bit. "You're right, Wendy. I shouldn't be so down in the dumps. I mean… just because I caused this mess doesn't mean that I'm completely incapable of fixing it."

"Exactly. And for what it's worth, I think you'll do amazing when it comes to fixing it. When you find Junior, you can tell him how sorry you are. How much you love him."

"And that's exactly what I plan to do." A warmth spread from Ludwig's heart all over the rest of his body. "Thanks, Wendy."

"Anytime." Wendy let out a breath. "Well, I'm satisfied with what I heard from you. I'll let you get back to searching."

"Thanks. Enjoy Paradise, Wen." With that, Ludwig hung up. He looked over the edge of the cloud, down below at the worlds lying sprawled out like a map. Junior was in one of those worlds. He was looking up at the same sky that Ludwig was currently searching in.

"I'll find him," he said to himself. He stood up. "I just need to stay positive."

Ca-ching!

Ludwig blinked. He picked his phone back up and went to his text messages, blinking some more when he saw he got a message from Lemmy.

Ludwig! I need your help! I'm in World 3 near a town called Snowlodge and something went wrong!

A surge of alarm claimed Ludwig's heart. Went wrong? What went wrong; are you okay? He waited for a good five minutes, but Lemmy didn't respond. This made Ludwig's heart rate pick up. He looked back down at the worlds below, specifically at World 3.

"Don't worry Lems, I'm coming."