(A note from Lemmy, authorized by Karma: This story was written as a response to Kissy’s bio in Larry’s Tourist Bio. It is not meant to be offensive, but merely to offer another viewpoint. Please read it as such.)

"I don't want to talk to you!!" Karma roared angrily behind the closed bedroom door.

"C'mon, Karma!" Ludwig urged, knocking on the door. "Please! If you'll just LISTEN!"

"There's nothing to talk about!" she snarled angrily. "Just leave me alone." There was a pause and then the sound of retreated footsteps. Alone, Karma instantly felt tears start to sting her eyes. Why? Why had he done it? Things had been going fine until that little witch Kissy had shown up. She growled between clenched fangs, her heart aching. It wasn't fair... it just wasn't fair at all. She sniffled, a tear running down her snout. It had been bad enough she had been constantly hanging off of him like they were boyfriend and girlfriend or something, but when Kissy had approached her this morning wearing a silver "bond" ring on her finger, stating that she and Ludwig were to be married... oh that had done it.

"You JERK!!!" she screamed, kicking at her nightstand and sending several odds and ends scattering about the room. There was a pause and then a small inquisitive "Reow?" She looked down to see Playful poking his head out from under her bedcovers. She sighed and jerked open the top drawer of her nightstand, clicking her pet translator on.

"Something wrong, Karma?" the cat inquired, stepping fully out from beneath her bed and curling his tail about his feet.

"Not as though you care," she grumbled.

"You're right. I don't. I'm just curious about what excuse you have that will save you from my wrath," the cat growled. "You woke me up and I think I have a right to know why."

"Ludwig," she answered sharply. "And that... KISSY harlot!" Playful dilated his pupils to show surprise.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, though we both know I never am, but I thought you didn't like Ludwig," the cat said smugly.

"I DON'T!!!" she shrieked, making Playful reflexively leap backwards up onto his windowsill.

"Hmph... well I suppose I won't be getting much sleep here," the cat muttered. "You can expect my death stare of death soon!” He neatly leapt from the windowsill to the ground, where he sought out a new place to sleep.

Karma clenched her fist angrily, looking at the gold band adorning her second-to-last finger. Clawdia had given them to her and Ludwig to signify their future marriage. Why even bother wearing it anymore? She tore it from her finger and threw it angrily across the room. It made an unimportant pinging noise as it struck the stone wall and rolled beneath her dresser. Good. It could rot there.

"I HATE YOU, LUDWIG VON KOOPA!!!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs.

***

"Kissy!!" Ludwig called, his eyes narrowed as he stalked down the hallway. Rrgh, where had she gotten to?

"Here hon," she smiled, poking her head out of the door to his laboratory. "You needed to see me?"

“Look, what exactly did you tell Karma?" he demanded, approaching her.

"The truth." she smiled, holding up her ring claw and showing off her silver bonding band. "Remember? You gave me this last night."

"Correction." he snarled at her. "You found that ring in one of my drawers and asked if you could have it. I said yes."

"But you DID give it to me." she put in. "Therefore you and I are bonded." Ludwig felt the blood rising in his cheeks. Okay, THAT was it...

"Angela Hayes...." he said quietly, dangerously. He only called her by her former human name when he was especially annoyed.  "As the Koopa Clan, we did you a favor letting you in and an even greater a favor allowing you to become a Koopa." He paused, taking a breath. "You can infiltrate our castle, you can call it your home, you can even call me "brother" if you like, but you will NOT interfere with my life. Do you understand me?"

"Why?" she asked, stamping her foot angrily. "Don't you like me?" He trembled, trying to calm down.

“I like you in a platonic way... as in you are more educated than most Koopa girls and a pleasure to have working with me in my lab, but nothing more," he stated firmly. "NOTHING more."  He sighed, running a hand over his forehead irately.  "Mmph... if I had my way about it I'd be marrying NO ONE let alone being promised to one girl with another trying to horn in." He glared at her. "Even if I wanted you to, you can't break what Karma and I have... nobody can."

"But can't I try?" she asked, her voice wavering as though she were getting ready to cry as she stepped closer.

"Don't, Kissy," he warned, reaching up to shove her away. Before he could, she lunged forward and kissed him on the mouth gently. His first instinct was to return it, but he quickly drew back again. "Get AWAY!" he said sharply. She retreated a few steps, regarding him with large wavering eyes. "GO!" he yelled. She sniffled and then retreated down the hallway away from him crying loudly, nearly smacking straight into Roy.

"Woah, what was dat?" he inquired, watching Kissy scamper into her room and slam the door.

"That... was an indecent proposal," his older brother sighed, wiping at his mouth angrily.  She had gotten lipstick on him. He hated lipstick.

"Ruh oh, Rorge!" he grinned, doing a bad impersonation of a certain television dog as he approached. "Looks like someone's got two fish on the line, eh?"

"I don't." he grumbled. "Kissy is just-"

"In LOVE!" Roy grinned, mocking him.

"Shut up!" Ludwig sighed, pushing open the door to his lab and stepping inside. "Karma won't speak to me now."

"You say dat like its a problem," Roy grinned. "All you two do is fight when you talk anyway."

"No, it’s not all we do!" Ludwig corrected him, grabbing up a wrench and moving to tinker with one of his latest inventions, scrambling up the side of its large metal bulk.  "We have our moments."

"Uh huhm" Roy said skeptically, cocking a brow at him. Ludwig blinked at his younger brother.

"Don't look at me like that," he said, turning his head away.

"Sorry," Roy shrugged. "Well, want me to go check on ol' Yoshi butt for ya?"

"I'd rather you didn't. She doesn't want to see anyone... certainly not you."

"Heh heh... riiiight!" Roy grinned, showing off his maw of sharp teeth.

"Roy..." Ludwig said, scowling at him and not in the mood to argue. The younger Koopa threw his hands into the air.

"Fine, fine... take all da fun outta it," he grumbled, leaving Ludwig alone again. "Ya know, I hope I never Meet anybody... you two are too confusing," he added as he left.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ludwig muttered, tightening a bolt. There was a creak and a snap as the screw broke off in its case. Ludwig stared, dumbfounded, at the broken fixture. THAT had never happened before. He supposed he had never been this irritated before either. He decided, before he destroyed anything else, he may as well give it up for now. He tossed his wrench aside.

He had never been good at making amends but somehow, he couldn't stand Karma being angry at him. He had to ease things somehow, he just had to. He really hadn't expected the incident with Kissy to bother her as much as it had... especially not once he had heard the whole story of what had happened. He was interrupted by a loud slam as his door flew open. He whirled to see Wendy standing there.

"You JERK!!" she screamed, grabbing up a beaker and throwing it at him.

"Woah! Hey, hold it!" he cried, shielding himself.

"Ya know, a freak like you shouldn't even HAVE a girlfriend and here you're jerking her around with some other little-"

"Wendy, I'm not playing around on Karma!" he stated firmly, ducking behind a table. She paused.

"Then what in the name of Plit is she in her room crying about?" Wendy asked. She had been on her way to Lemmy's room for a ball-riding lesson and had been interrupted by a faint sobbing noise eminating from Karma's room and, having developed more or less of a friendship with the hybrid, had stopped in to see what was wrong.

"She's crying?" Ludwig asked, blinking once. The answer was a test tube filled with blue liquid flying at him and missing by inches, shattering against the table. "Geez, calm down!" he commanded. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me that that newcomer, Kissy, or whatever her name is, has been getting really cozy with you over the past few weeks since she and her sister got here, and this morning, Kissy had proclaimed rather rudely to her that you and her were now kid-married!"

"That's... a rather interesting assumption for her to make," Ludwig said, shaking his head. Wendy's disposition shifted to being a bit calmer.

"You never DID get married to her, did you?" his sister muttered. Ludwig shook his head, sighing heavily.

"She was going through my items in the lab and found a vat of silver I was going to melt down in an attempt to make a better Bullet Bill and amongst it she found mother's old bond ring. She had asked if she might have it and I told her she could. She then went on to say I GAVE it to her," the eldest Koopaling explained and then began to rub his temples. "This is turning into such a mess..."

"Well why didn't you just tell Karma that?" Wendy inquired, her rage now completely gone.

"Tried." Ludwig replied. "She slammed the door in my face and said she never wanted to talk to me again."

“Ouch." she winced. "So what're you going to do?"

"Good question," her brother sighed. Wendy stared at one of the walls deep in thought and then looked back at him.

"You could just tell her you're sorry," Wendy offered.

"Right. Like she'd buy it," Ludwig grumbled. "She'll think I'm trying to weasel out of being in trouble."

"Which you are." Wendy put in.

"Hush!" he grumbled. She snickered and then resumed a serious face.

"Okay... well... why don't you buy her something?" she offered.

"Can't. Spent my allowance on new drill bits," he told her.

"Make her something?"

"She'd use it to blow my head off."

"Write her something?"

"I'm no Shakespeare."

"Well fine! When YOU think of something, let me know!" Wendy huffed, out of ideas and annoyed as she left the lab. Ludwig sighed heavily, a loud hollow hissing sound.

"Some days it doesn’t pay to get out of bed," he said aloud to nothing.

"Yes child, some days it doesn't," a voice proclaimed. Ludwig froze, looking about the lab.

"Ehh..." he said, confused.

"Up here."  Ludwig whipped his head in the direction of one of his storage closets. Seated atop it was Kamek, his broom sitting neatly in his lap and smiling down at him – Kamek, not the broom. "Troubles, Prince von Koopa?"

"Feh! There's an understatement," he snorted. "Kissy told-"

"-Karma that you were married. I heard about it," the old magician nodded, lidding his eyes behind his large glasses. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Why's everyone asking me that?" Ludwig inquired, rolling his eyes.

"Because a heart was unnecessarily broken over someone else's deceit and brazen actions. I think you owe it to Karma to try and make things better," Kamek told him.

"Make it better how? She won't listen to me!" Ludwig stated hopelessly. "She doesn't even want to look at me!"

"You're to be her husband one day, correct?" Kamek inquired.

"I suppose," he sighed, not really wanting to discuss such things.

"To be a husband, you must understand your lady," Kamek told him sternly.

"And how would YOU know, you old buzzard?" Ludwig snapped. Kamek was unperterbed by the insult as he grinned slyly.

"Who do you think it was that got your mom and dad together?" he smirked. Ludwig's eyes widened momentarily in shock but he quickly caught himself. "It must be something in this bloodline, honestly. None of the men know how to talk to the women."  Ludwig snorted in indignation.

"Well all right then, o wise one!" he said sarcastically. "What exactly should I do? Are you going to cast a spell on me to turn me into Rambo Koopa so I can ram down her bedroom door? Because that's the only way I'm gonna get in there."

"Even better," Kamek smirked, grabbing up his wand and firing a blast at the Koopaling. A stinging blast struck Ludwig squarely in the tail.

"OUCH! What was that for, you blasted idiot?" he asked, rubbing at the singed spot on his scales.

"To ensure I have your attention," the old magician cackled. "Now listen to me. If you want her to think better of her, stand your ground while she yells. I don't care if she HITS you, just state your side of the story when she's calmed down. It’s the only way to get through to her that you're sincere, to stay."

"That's dandy... what about Kissy?" Ludwig inquired. The magician grabbed up his wand again and Ludwig instantly sheilded himself as he heard another blast fired. Except this time, he felt a warm sensation in his hand as something was magically placed there. When he opened his eyes, he found a white rose and a red rose in his fist.

"White for apology and red for true love. Do the right thing." Kamek smirked and then was gone in a twinkle of stardust.

Ludwig stared blankly at the roses in his hand. Great... no pressure here. Roses were ONLY some of the rarest blossoms on Plit. He closed his eyes, deep in thought as the roses' gentle fragrance wafted over his nose. He needed to make a decision, needed to make a- His thoughts trailed off as a mental image of Karma suddenly surfaced in his mind, curled on her bed and sobbing, her face buried in the coverlet. He recalled the times they had fought, their first rocky meeting, their moments of quiet talking late at night, how she had helped him with his project, the strange longing he felt when she wasn't around him.  His heartstrings tugged heavily with pity as he opened his eyes again, suddenly certain of what he would do as he approached his writing desk and sat down, taking out a piece of paper. No, he wasn't Shakespeare, but some things didn't need to be eloquent to get their point across.

***

Kissy paced her room, hands clutching the silver ring and eyes drizzling with tears. He loved her, she knew he did. Why was he wasting his time on KARMA of all people?  She was hideous. She wasn't even a Koopa, she was a... a... mixup! A freak! Hmph! Well, she'd set him straight. One way or another he'd see things her way. She had even talked to King Bowser the night before and he had confided in her that he hated Karma's muddying of his family line and would be overjoyed to see Kissy steal Ludwig's heart somehow. Well, there were more than one way to skin a Goomba.

She took a deep breath, getting ahold of herself. She could do this, she would just go his laboratory and confess how she felt about him. How could he say no, after all? She forced a small laugh. Things were going to be fine, they would be JUST fine. She supposed she could even sit down with Karma later and have a decent talk with her about how she felt about Ludwig and reasonably ask that the hybrid just let him go. He would be better off with a "real" Koopa as his wife anyway.

A knock at the door interrupted her as she rushed to open it. Maybe it was him. Maybe he was going to tell her that he had seen things the wrong way and wanted to give them a chance. As she threw open the door, however, her hopes were dashed. It wasn't Ludwig at all, it was a stout blue Paratroopa clutching a scroll of paper.

"You Kissy Koopa?" he asked in a deep voice. She nodded. "This is from Prince Ludwig," he muttered disinterestedly, handing her the scroll. "Good day." He waddled away down the hallway. Kissy watched him go for a moment before holding her breath and unrolling the parchment. A white rose fell at her feet from within the rolled paper and she felt herself smile. Having once been a human she knew a white rose was a man's way of saying he was sorry. She eagerly began to read.

Dear Angela,

Though I can't say it in a way to make you understand, seemingly, I need to say that I'm sorry. I don't return your feelings. I wish there was a way you could see things from my side. Karma and I are bonded by something that's greater than any of us. It’s a bond of love made at birth between two Koopas whether they want it to or not and to deny it means death and illness to one or both. You can't expect me to simply drop Karma because you don't think she's right for me. As I said, if I had my way about it I'd never have been promised to anyone but as it stands I have no choice in the matter. Please understand. I will still be your friend quite willingly and always will be. You know that.

Ludwig

Kissy was shocked. Simply shocked. How could he have done this to her? She cast a slow look down at the white rose on the floor, felt her lips draw back in a snarl of rage and her foot came down on it, shattering it into a pile of tattered petals. Oh, this wasn't over... it was FAR from over! She bet her gold coins that Ludwig hadn't even been the one who wrote the note. No, that must be it, Karma had written it to make her leave him alone. Well, she had news for that little mutant. Things were going to be different now. Ludwig was hers now, not Karma's.

Angrily, she tore out of her room, crumpling the note between her hands and stalking in the direction of Karma's room. That Yoshi/Koopa was going to get a piece of her mind... and her mind was quite vast. As she rounded a corner, she froze. Up ahead, she could see Ludwig and Karma standing at the end of the corridor facing each other and discussing something. Karma's stance was rather aggressive and her arms were crossed over her chest as she leered at Bowser's eldest son.

Their mouths were moving... they were obviously discussing something but she was too far away to hear what. Only that Karma's voice held a stern angry tone and Ludwig's was soft, sullen. He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, saying something else.

"So you think a rose fixes everything?!" she shrieked, slapping his hand away. Kissy blinked at the hybrid's vehement behavior. When Ludwig had said she had a firey temper, he hadn't been kidding. More words were exchanged as Karma whirled to storm back into her bedroom. Suddenly Ludwig caught her arm, holding her back. Kissy watched as Karma whirled around to yell at him when suddenly he took her firmly by both shoulders and drew her close, hesitating, and then, much to Kissy's utter shock, kissed her.

Karma's free arm flailed and reached out, trying to shove him off of her, still wanting to be angry, most likely, but gradually her struggles stopped as her hand rested on his shoulder and looked as though it was pulling him closer. Kissy shivered, feeling her heart breaking as the two of them shared a long embrace... their first from the look of it.  Kissy felt her grip on the bond ring in her hand loosen. She didn't hear as it clattered to the ground, she only slowly turned away from them. She had seen enough as she made her way aimlessly back to her room with a slow gait.

"There are some things, real worlder, that even you can't come between," an elderly voice chuckled as Kamek, from his invisible perch on the ceiling, watched her leave and then turned his head back to look at Karma and Ludwig. Ah young love... such a lovely thing. Not just because it was nice to see two hearts coming together but because he knew Bowser was going to drop a brick when he found out his plan to break up his son's relationship with the hybrid had failed. Chuckling, the old magician went back to simply watching them as they broke their kiss and stared dumbfounded at one another.Oh yes, things were going to be MUCH different around the castle after today.

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