Love's Remedy, Hatred's Sickness

Forks banging on plates, knives digging into the fresh meal their father had prepared for them… the koopalings enjoyed their food, devouring it without the slightest thought. All except Ludwig, who sat there, stareing into his food, a blank expression layed out across his face.

I can't eat this…

Ludwig poked at his steak with a fork. Nothing but meat and fat…

…There's so much fat…

He changed his view to his own body, looking horrified at what his eyes had conceived for him. He was huge, bulging out from the sides, stubby legs… it was horrible.

It's like an elephant…

Ludwig held back a tear as he got up from his chair, threw down his utensils, and slowly walked across the table. Lemmy glanced up, to see Ludwig coming his way.

"Ludwig?" Lemmy grabbed him by the arm. "Where are you going?"

"To my room." Ludwig sternly answered as he jerked his arm free, walking away from the table.

"But…Ludwig…" Lemmy let out a sigh, as he turned back to the table, knowing there was no point arguing with his older brother.

Ludwig continued to exit the room, up the stairs and down the corridor, to the 2nd left hand door, where his room was. The door slowly creaked open, obviously from rusty hinges. "Stupid hinges" Ludwig thought as he slammed the door behind him. Ludwig looked around… what did he see? His piano, his bed, dresser, nightstand, posters of Ludwig von Beethoven, and sheet music scattered all over the floor. He sighed.

"Well this'll be fun…" He grunted as he kneeled down on the floor, searching for a piece of music, his hands rummaging back and forth. Ludwig winced in pain as something on the cold ground sliced open his finger. He looked down to find a razor blade, colored red with small droplets of blood. The cut wasn't too deep, but it bled a lot, letting Ludwig's crimson goo drip all over his sheet music. Ludwig turned to the razor, it was so small, but could cause so much damage. He picked it up, and turned it around, not sure of what he was looking for, and slowly glanced down to his left arm. Horizontal scars were embedded in his scaly flesh, from his wrist almost to his elbow.

Ludwig shuttered as he suppressed more tears, remembering the nights up all alone, crying from his depression, and trying to think of a way out of the emotional pain. Ludwig knew it was against all logic…but maybe…just maybe… he could make his emotional pain go away if he experienced physical pain instead. He had first stole the razor from Iggy's room, where it was used to help cut wires, but was now used to help cut skin.

Ludwig got up and removed his shell, followed by jumping on his bed, burying his pillow into his face.

"Fuck I hate my life." Ludwig sobbed, his tears swelling up inside him, he couldn't resist it anymore… at this point, crying felt good. He leaned into his pillow even more as it soaked up his tears, listening to his complaints of himself and life, how he was to fat, unliked, and unloved.

After 10 minutes of tears, Ludwig slowly got up, and looked at the razor, now firmly placed on his night stand, waiting to be used. He slowly reached to it, touching the cool metal and the dried blood. He got a grip on it and picked it up, bringing it above the flesh on his arm. He sadly counted the scars currently on his wrists.

1…2…3…4…

"It felt so good…" Ludwig cried out loud.

5…6…7…8…

"It was almost addicting" He sobbed.

9…10…11…12…13…14…

"It's like a drug…"

15…16…

"It's so wrong." He solemnly said, pressing the blade to his arm. He moved it right, the pain was intense… almost like something was burning him… the cut was so deep, there was blood, a lot of it… almost draining the life from his limb.

"No…" Ludwig suddenly stopped.

"No… this…isn't…" He started crying hysterically.

"THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" He screamed in anger as he threw the blade at the ground, slicing threw another piece of music.

Ludwig starred at his arm, now red with blood.

"What am I doing?" He asked himself, tears flowing like a waterfall.

"I-I… I can't believe this…why does it feel so good? Why does it feel right? It's not… I know it's not… but the pain… it drains away my emotions… but at what cost?" He said aloud, truly considering what he was doing to himself for the first time. He realized what was happening… he had cut into the main vain of his arm… that's why there was so much blood… but… he was smart… he knew first aid… he can stop the bleeding…. but… why should he?

"I don't know… what do I have to love for?" He thought of his family… his father… who didn't love him… his siblings… mostly un-careing… but there was Lemmy… this morning… did he notice what Ludwig had been doing? Starving himself… forcing himself to lose weight… it was a sickening thought.

Ludwig was getting light headed… everything was fuzzy to him.

"Why stop it… what's the point…" Ludwig thought… as he collapsed to the floor, unable to collect his thoughts.

"Ludwig?" he heard a voice from the doorway, and a gasp… then… everything went black.

Ludwig was sitting up… well almost… he was lying down slightly… his head resting on a soft pillow… there was a soft beeping in the background, synchronized to the beating of his heart. He tried to open his eyes… it wouldn't work… he couldn't talk either… what was going on?

"I don't know dad!" A familiar voice shouted from a distance, muffled by what Ludwig guessed was a door.

"I just walked in… and he was lying there! I think he tripped and cut his arm open on his metal bed frame, there was an awful lot of blood by the bed."

"Are you sure that's how it happened?" Another voice, deeper than the one before, chimed in.

"Positive."

There was a bit of silence… but the door suddenly opened, followed by the sound of footsteps… judging by the sound… Ludwig assumed there to be 3 of them.

"Well… it seems his heart has stabilized." One said.

"Wonderful!" The deep voice again added. "I don't know what I would do without Ludwig…" There was silenced… followed by something pressed upon his forehead… it was slight, so Ludwig assumed it was a kiss.

"I love you son." He heard the voice whisper. Ludwig tried to say it back… but he couldn't manage words.

"I love you to bro." The other voice said, as something grabbed his hand.

"Kmon Lemmy… I think we should let him rest…" The deep voice said.

"Dad… can I… just stay here with him?" Lemmy asked.

"Uhh… sure, just call us when you want to come home." Bowser said.

He heard more footsteps, a door closing… and then silence.

"Please don't die on me Ludwig…" The voice said, in a sadden tone. The grip on his hand increasing.

Ludwig once again tried to open his eyes… and this time… it finally worked. He blinked several times, adjusting to the light. He looked over at Lemmy, who's head was down. Ludwig could feel tears dripping from Lemmy's eyes onto his hand.

"Lemmy…" Ludwig finally managed to chirp out.

"L-L-Ludwig?" Lemmy looked up, eyes red.

"Lemmy… you…you didn't tell them what happened…" Ludwig said with gratitude.

"They didn't need to know…" He responded. "They'll ship you off to counselors and everything… and I know you don't need that."

"T-….Thanks so much Lemmy" Ludwig shed a tear of happiness.

"Ludwig… I need you to promise me something." Lemmy's tone turned serious.

"Anything Lemmy."

"Ok… Ludwig… when we get home… I need you to eat as much as you can possibly handle."

"Why?" Ludwig was shocked.

"Don't think I didn't notice Ludwig… you never eat anymore."

"I do sometimes."

"Rarely… I know what you're doing to yourself bro… it's not healthy… you're not fat Ludwig, you don't need to do this." Lemmy got up and hugged Ludwig.

"I-I… ok… I promise…" Ludwig hugged back, only to receive pain from his arm.

"Just rest Ludwig… you'll have to spend the night here… you lost a lot of blood."

"Ya… I know…"

"Well… I gotta go now Ludwig… im sorry I have to leave you alone."

"It's ok Lemmy." Ludwig smiled as Lemmy released Ludwig, and headed towards the door.

"And Ludwig…" Lemmy turned around.

"Ya?"

"Remember… Your family loves you… Dad loves you… I love you." Lemmy hit home with those words.

"Don't worry Lemmy… I'll never forget that again." Ludwig smiled as Lemmy left and closed the door.

Well… there we have it! My first depressing story… not really my best work when I write this genre, but non-the-less I think I did pretty well, and I made the ending happy… instead if sad like I originally planned. Please review it, and I might do another like this sometimes, but I need to know what to improve. That's about it…thanks for reading, bye! (Also I wrote this kind of fast, and I skipped my whole 'Re-describing' Process.)