Chapter 3 Bowser's Stupid Decision

The next few days were quiet. Ludwig liked this; no distracting noises meant that he never had a better opportunity to work on his passion for songwriting. He had already dedicated a lot of time to composing lyrical compositions, a practice that he found he liked. Sure, he preferred composing symphonies, but there was value in just regular songs. Especially seeing how the song he was currently looking over was a song he and Lemmy had written.

"You make me feel great, you make me feel gloom." Ludwig paused and tapped his finger against the book he was using as a hard surface to write. "All these emotions are in full bloom. You bring out the best, and the worst, in me. I don't know which state I ought to be." He blinked before chuckling to himself. In all honesty, he was surprised at how well this song turned out. Especially seeing how Lemmy had very little songwriting experience. He took to it like a cheep to water, didn't he? It seemed like he had taken after his only older brother a lot, which was really nice (as well as humbling).

"I… can't feel my heart beating." He paused. "I… can't hope to swoon. My mood keeps swinging, keeps on shifting, all over the course of an after…"

"Ahem."

Ludwig blinked. He slowly lifted his head to see who was in the doorway, and seeing who it was filled him with surprise. "Bowser?" He set his song to the side and stared at his adopted father with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting with World 6's ruler?"

Bowser chuckled and scratched his head. "That actually starts in a few minutes, so I have a tiny bit of free time." He sighed. "Which is good, because I have a serious problem."

A serious problem? What kind of serious problem? Did this have anything to do with nerves about the meeting? That would make sense, except that Ludwig knew that Bowser almost never got nervous about these types of things. He had been attending important meetings for years, pretty much since the day he could walk. And never in Ludwig's lifetime had he known his father to be apprehensive about these things. So much so that Ludwig legitimately wondered if Bowser was even capable of feeling nervous.

"What's going on?" Ludwig asked, his tone half concerned and half serious.

Bowser bit his lip as he stepped further into the room. Ludwig kept his eyes glued to his face. He noticed a bizarre quality to his eyes, almost as if they were influenced by… pain and regret? What?

"About four days ago, I took Junior into the throne room." Bowser ran his hand through his hair and turned his head to the side. "I… I told him about his birth story."

Ludwig's eyes grew wide. "Oh…" Ludwig knew about the birth story, of course. All of the Koopalings knew about the birth story. When they had been given education by Kamek, it was one of the first things they learned in their history lessons. Each one of Bowser's children had been aware of it… except for Junior. Bowser had intentionally gone out of his way to hold off on that information until Junior was ready to hear it. Which… Ludwig understood. He knew how holding onto information this important could have dire consequences, but he also knew that there were some things a child (especially one as young as Junior was) couldn't appropriately handle.

"I… How did he take it?"

Bowser sucked some air through his teeth, all without looking Ludwig in the eye. "Well… he was shocked, first off. He more or less reacted the same way I did when I was his age." Bowser bit his lip again, which Ludwig just realized was probably because he was fighting back tears. "It was like I was reliving it."

Ludwig felt a pang. "Gosh, I'm sorry Bowser." He squirmed a little in his seat.

"It's okay." Bowser hesitated. "It honestly is. Or, at least, it is on my end." Bowser paused. "Junior isn't feeling too good about it though. He hasn't come out of his room since I've told him."

Ludwig's heart sank. "Really?" Junior was suffering in silence? That was horrible… and yet, this just went to show how detached the Koopalings were from Junior's life. Sure, they hadn't seen him since he left the common room a few days ago, but they didn't think too much of it. After all, they could sometimes go for months without having an interaction with Junior. They didn't actively try to exclude him, but… well, at least in Ludwig's opinion, it was simply easier to form close bonds with siblings who one was actually related to.

But that didn't make this any less wrong. The Koopalings had all seen Junior a few days ago, and yet, they didn't bother to give him not returning to them in the common room a second thought. They had all resumed with their regular lives. And honestly, now that he knew the full context, Ludwig started to feel guilty.

"That's… that's not good."

"No, it isn't." Bowser took a deep breath. "I've tried to comfort him, but he's refusing to talk to me. He won't even open the door." Ludwig felt a pang, as he knew that this distance between him and his biological son was foreign to the Koopa King. "So…" He tightly held his hands together. "I was wondering if you could help me out."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Junior isn't going to talk to someone who gave him the most Earth-shattering news of his life. However, he could conceivably be more open to talking to an unrelated third party."

Ludwig stared at Bowser, on some level hoping he wasn't serious. This… Bowser wasn't actually telling him to take on the role of a comforter, was he?

"And you want ME to be that unrelated third party?" Ludwig asked, putting extra emphasis on the word "me" just to see if Bowser was being serious. When he nodded, Ludwig didn't know if he wanted to laugh or curl up into his shell. He ended up doing neither. Instead, he shifted his position on the couch in a way that he hoped appeared authoritative.

"Uh, Bowser, I think you might be asking the wrong Koopaling."

"You think so?"

"Uh… yeah! I don't do 'touchy-feely.' I can barely regulate my own emotions, let alone take care of the emotions of someone else. This is especially true when the someone else in question is a child." He frowned, looking the Koopa King right in the eye. "Why don't you ask someone else to do it? I'm sure Lemmy or Wendy would be willing to help. Hell, you could even ask Roy; he might not be the brightest bulb, but he can at the very least be compassionate."

Bowser's face fell. "Well… those do sound like good ideas, I will admit." He chuckled nervously. "But you see, I have that meeting in two minutes. I don't have nearly enough time to seek out those guys." He put on a smile. "You are closest to the meeting room; I thought it would make the most sense to ask you."

Ludwig's jaw dropped. He stared at Bowser before growling, the scent of smoke filling the common room. "Uh… excuse me? Are you serious right now? You had four days to deal with Junior's emotional state. You could've asked ANYONE to go to him during that time! And yet, you only do it at the last possible minute, deciding to ask someone who you KNOW isn't the most qualified for the job?" By this point, his hands were engulfed in blue flame.

Bowser's nervous chuckles got worse. "Well… uh… yeah?"

Ludwig stood up, mostly because he didn't want the couch and especially his song to catch fire. "Unbelievable. You're just unbelievable, you know that?"

Bowser sighed and put his head in his hands. "Look, I know it's not the most well-thought-out plan, but…" he hesitated before shaking his head. "Okay, I don't have time to explain myself to you. I have to be in the meeting room in a minute and a half." He looked Ludwig right in the eye. "I know this isn't your specialty, but the concepts of sympathy and empathy aren't completely lost on you, right? You can be a nice guy when you try, right?"

The flames on Ludwig's hands crept up his arms. "Well… you aren't wrong, but…"

"There, see! You'll do fine with this!" Bowser flashed him a smile and backed up toward the door. "I'm sure you can help out Junior!"

"But… But Bowser…"

"No buts, Ludwig!" He paused. "Mostly because I don't have enough time in my schedule to deal with any buts."

Ludwig snorted. Spoken like a true virgin.

"Okay? Okay. I'll leave you to it; good luck son!"

With that, Bowser left the room. Ludwig stood in place for a few seconds, digesting all the words he had just heard.

"So he's making an important parenting decision just because he's lazy." He shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?"

Well, he couldn't spend a lot of time thinking about that. Whether he liked it or not, he needed to go comfort Junior. Sure, he didn't want to do it, and sure, the possibility of such an interaction ending in disaster was dangerously high. But even with those things taken into account, Ludwig knew he couldn't disobey Bowser. He gave him a direct order. Not only would not following it mean he was disobeying his father, but it would also mean he was disobeying his king.

So, after letting out a groan and rolling his eyes all the way up to the ceiling, Ludwig started making his way toward Junior's room in the west wing.

…

Junior couldn't remember a time when he felt this empty. He didn't want to play, he didn't want to eat, he didn't even want to get out of bed. He didn't want to do anything right now. The pit in his stomach grew and grew, making his hollow emptiness feel even worse than before. No thought Junior had made it go away, nor did any emotion. The latter component left him stuck in a dismal state, and the former component only allowed him to focus on one thing in particular.

He was a clone. He was a freak, a genetic anomaly that, by all means, shouldn't exist. He may be young, but Junior knew the implications of cloning people or animals. A lot of people said it wasn't right. A lot of people believed that it went against the laws of nature. And they were right! They were absolutely right. By all means, Junior shouldn't exist.

He really shouldn't exist. Not only did the fact that he was a freak make him feel horrible, but the fact that he didn't have a mother made this fact feel even worse. He had longed for a mother to know, to form a bond with, to love. And not just to love; to BE loved. A mother was the Holy Grail of family members. She was kind, smart, sweet, and overall amazing. People who didn't have good, strong mother figures in their lives, at least in Junior's opinion, were far worse off.

And Junior was no exception.

Sniffling, Junior turned over in his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He was never going to get over this, was he? He was always going to feel this bad, this incomplete, this wrong. He would always be an outlier, someone who didn't fit into the rules of reality. He would never have anybody who he could run to, he would never have a shoulder to cry on.

"Prince Junior?"

Junior didn't even lift his head when Bloke, the Koopa Troopa servant, came into the room with a pitcher and a glass. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to make sure you're well hydrated," Bloke said. "You haven't moved from that spot in a while; you need to make sure that you're getting enough water."

Junior blinked. Part of him was tempted to yell at Bloke, send him away without giving him the opportunity to worry about him. He wanted to, but he knew he couldn't. Bloke was coming from a place of concern for the Prince's health.

"Thanks, Bloke." Bloke smiled at Junior as he poured the glass. "Just put it on my bedside table, okay?"

"Of course, Your Highness." He did as he was told, wearing a smile as he did. Honestly, Junior didn't know if that smile made him feel positively or negatively. "Anything else I can get you?"

"No," Junior said with a shake of the head. "You can just go."

Bloke bowed and made his way to the door. Right as he opened it was when he stopped. "Oh! Master Ludwig! Surprised to see you here!"

Junior blinked. Ludwig was here? He never came into the west wing. What was he doing here? Why would he be here unless…

Oh no. Please don't let it be so. Please Grambi and all of his Nimbis don't let it be so.

Right as Junior was thinking this was when Ludwig came into the room. He stared at him for a few seconds, looking completely miffed. Then, he smiled. Junior could see how fake it was; it looked so unnatural that it might be hurting Ludwig's face.

"Hey… buddy," Ludwig said, clearly trying to adopt a cheery tone. "How are you?"

Junior's heart sank. Oh great. Here we go.