When Lili wandered into Ludwig's room on an unsuspecting March evening, she came upon something she hadn't expected to see. Various small objects were quietly floating about the room, seemingly all on their own. In curious awe, she poked at a levitating Jurassic World projector pen. 

Ludwig turned around in his chair, her unexpected intrusion taking him out of his element. As a result of the loss of focus, all the floating objects came crashing down at once, now at gravity's mercy. 

"Whatcha doin'?" She questioned curiously. 

"Nothing much." He shrugged, getting up out of his chair to walk around the room. He was hoping she'd notice that he was wearing different underwear and that he was sexy or whatever. He couldn't tell if she was noticing, but she better be. They were more expensive than what he usually went for, but he guessed you got what you paid for. Like Roy promised, they were actually very comfortable and they had a cool blue coral reef pattern on them. Even if she didn't notice, he guessed it wouldn't all be for nothing. 

"...What did it feel like when I poked the pen? You turned around when I did so, can you, like, feel it?" She asked randomly.

"Yeah, it sorta feels like you're poking me, because my magic is a part of me." He replied. 

"By the way, I thought you had to use a wand to do magic? I haven't seen you use one since you got here." 

"Because I am not a child. Wands are for children and people who have trouble controlling their magic. Wands aren't really magical. They act as mediums for one's magic to flow through. They're hardly more than rods of wood, metal, or plastic.

Lilium, magic is a dangerous thing. People believe that it's so dangerous that you must have a license to do it." He informed her. 

"Ooo! Are there magic schools like in Harry Potter?" 

"I'm sure there's some somewhere, since there are people out here giving licenses and degrees in magic." Ludwig replied. 

She eyed him suspiciously, crossing her arms. "You keep mentioning this so-called 'magic license'. Do you even have one?" 

"I do, but I got it when I was still under Kamek's tutelage, so it's not up-to-date and probably expired. Not to mention that the photo on it is embarrassingly horrid." He chuckled. 

Lili chuckled as well. "So...you're a criminal, then? 'Cause you literally just said that a license is required to do magic."

"W-well, in practice, you don't really need a license if you're doing a little magic here and there for yourself because no one's gonna ask to see your license. It's more important to have one if you want to be a magic teacher, a magic apothecary that sells potions to people in search of a quick fix for their problems, or if you use magic in medicine, like the sorcerers who cast spells to help same-sex couples conceive without the help of an expensive surrogate." 

Lili had never really known magic was so...abundant like that. If she remembered correctly, she was the only one in her friend group in high school that didn't have any powers of any kind. During her nurse training, they'd touched on magic users and their powers and how to treat them and what not, but she'd never really had to use that information on the job. She guessed it was because the Fruit Kingdom was a human-majority country, with a general disapproval of the mystic arts because of their abundance in the Koopa Kingdom. 

"Hey! Speaking of surrogate, I saw this' 'Show Your Breastfed Baby Your Boobs' challenge on YouTube, and I thought it was super cute so I decided to do it with the boys!" She said enthusiastically, taking her phone out to show the video. 

As Ludwig had anticipated, the twins reacted with eager smiles and kicks. "That's probably torture for them, getting their hopes up like that" He commented, "Did you even feed them afterwards?" 

"Of course I did! I am a responsible mother, you know. By the way, Roy and I were thinking of playing cards. You wanna come?" 

"Um, I dunno--"

"Come on!" She insisted, tugging on his hairy arm, "You've been stuffed up in this room for way too long! You need some people interaction!" 

She dragged him downstairs, Beethoven following them close behind. Roy was waiting patiently in the living room, kissing and blowing on Jacob's little chubby cheeks causing the baby to squeal with laughter. 

"Where's Joseph?" Ludwig asked, looking around. 

"Oh, he's upstairs having a wittle nap. He was extra fussy today for some reason, so I'm giving him some space. Fortunately, I can take this time to hang out with Jacob one-on-one, because the internet said it's important to hang out with your twins separately from a young age." She explained, taking her son from Roy. Ludwig noticed he was finally wearing the little Snorlax Pokémon onesie Lili had bought for the twins a while ago. 

Roy took the cards out of their box and began shuffling them. "So, what are we playin', Lils?" 

She shrugged. "I dunno, what do you guys wanna play?" 

"I don’t play cards very often, so my knowledge of different games is limited." Ludwig admitted. 

"How about War?" Roy suggested. 

"Gosh, I haven't played that since grade school. Isn't that a game for two players though?" Lili asked. 

"Usually, yeah. But considerin' the gameplay, I think addin' just one more player wouldn't hurt. I just have to divide the cards in 3 instead of 2."

"Well according to my phone, 52 divided by 3 is 17.3 repeating, a.k.a. not a whole number." Lili informed him.

 "Well I could just give everyone 17 and leave out any extra cards." 

"So...how do you play?" Ludwig asked curiously. 

"After Roy deals out the cards, we all have to turn over a card from our respective stacks at the same time. Whoever has the card of the highest value wins everyone's cards. If 2 or more of us tie for the highest card, everyone plays their next card face down and then turns up a third card. This'll keep going until one of the face-up cards is higher than all the others, and then that player wins all the cards in the war.

If you run out of cards, you have to drop out of the game. The game goes on until only one player has cards, and that player wins." Lili explained to him. 

He smirked. "Well then I will be the winner!" 

"It doesn't really work like that. The game is a game of chance, and there's not much you can do to better your chances. So no cheating! And no magic!" She ordered. 

Roy dealt everyone 17 cards. They organized them into neat, face-down stacks and the game began. Miraculously, Ludwig ended up winning the first round as he'd declared. They all had chances to win, some more than others. As he continued to win, his confidence multiplied as well. However the tide of the game eventually changed, and it was primarily Roy and Lilium taking home the gold. 

"These cards are rigged!" Ludwig declared after losing for the umpteenth time. "I don't wanna play this game anymore!"

"Dude, chill. Do you need to go to time-out?" Lili asked. 

"No! I want to play a different game!" 

"Well there are tons of otha games we can play. Like Rummy or Go Fish or Crazy Eights or Old--" 

"NO! I want to play a different game, a real game! I'm talkin' real war!" He laughed maniacally as the cards on the coffee table began to rush into a dangerous tornado of potential paper cuts. Lili hugged Jacob closer to her, shielding him from danger. 

"Ludwig, I said no magic!" Lili shouted over the roar of the wind. 

"What's the matter, Lilium~? Afraid you'll lose? Can't own up to a challenge?" His now-red eyes taunted her.

Normally, her competitive nature would take over, but when it came to the safety of her babies, there were things that meant more to her than a stupid game of cards. 

Before she could give the lunatic a piece of her mind, there was a loud pop sound and everything around her went dark.

 ***

When she came to, she was lying on a cold stone floor in an unfamiliar place. Fortunately, Jacob was still safely in her arms. She kissed him on the forehead before standing to her feet. As she looked around, she noticed the walls of the place were made of large playing cards. Everything felt….odd. Something was definitely off about it. She could hardly tell if this was some sort of alternate reality or if she was just straight up hallucinating or dreaming. 

"What a strange place this is, eh Jacob?" She thought aloud. He murmured in what Lili assumed was agreement. 

There was no obvious direction to go. The tunnel had 2 ends, one of them presumably opposite to the way she needed to go. Randomly, she decided to head forward. After a few minutes of heading down the seemingly never-ending corridor, Lili stumbled upon some sort of control panel in front of a large, dark screen. 

"I see you've finally made it, Lilium." She heard Ludwig's voice say, though she could not see him. 

Suddenly, the "screen" flickered on. She could now see that it was a window, and through the window she could see a card fortress across from her. She caught a glimpse of Ludwig in there, looking back at her through his own window. A portion of the fortress wall gave away, revealing some type of cannon. 

"Prepare to lose!" He exclaimed before firing his weapon. 

Lili screamed, shielding her baby as the ammo struck her fortress, causing it to shake and tremble. 

"GOD DAMMIT LUDWIG!" She shouted furiously. She quickly scanned her own control panel for some sort of defense mechanism. She angrily slammed her fist on the  large, glowing red button labeled "Canon". Her own weapon fired back at him, exploding on his fortress. However, all she could hear was his maniacal laughter.  

"I said, no magic, Ludwig! Stop this right now!" Lili demanded. 

There was a long silence before Ludwig finally giggled over the intercom,"Come over here and make me." 

Lili was a little taken aback. She really hadn't known what she was expecting. Knowing Ludwig, there'd been a 50/50 chance he would be a good boy and do what he was told. The worst part was she had no idea how she'd make him do what she wanted. She didn't know the rules of this world. 

As she gazed out the window, she noticed out of the corner of her view that their fortresses were actually connected by a bridge. All she had to do was cross the bridge and get to him to give him a piece of her mind and possibly a piece of her fist.

She pressed a blue button that fired a flamethrower at Ludwig's fortress to keep him occupied as she attempted to infiltrate his sanctuary. 

"Hang on, Jacob! It'll all be over soon!" She exclaimed as she ran back down the hall. She was suddenly grateful for her track and field experience in school, but after giving birth to 3 kids, her body admittedly wasn't what it once was. Signs had appeared on the walls and even though she found that hella suspicious, she didn't have much of a choice. She could only hope they we're guiding her to where she wanted to go. 

Miraculously, she made it to the bridge. It was enclosed like a tunnel, with windows on the side. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and give her muscles a break from carrying Jacob everywhere. Quickly, she continued on. She couldn't stay in one place for too long, that's when you become a potential target. 

She climbed the stairs. Was it warm in there or was it just her? Probably her, she was the one doing all the physical activity. She leaned on the card wall to catch her breath. Yeah, that was very warm. But she couldn't even tell if it was real or if she was imagining it. It was as if she was in some sort of "limbo" between fantasy and reality and the longer she stayed in the place, the more lost she became. She shook her head, she couldn't just sit there. She had to give Ludwig the ass whooping in store for him. 

Once at the top of the stairs, she hurried down the corridor to where she assumed the control panel was, based on the layout of her own fortress. 

"LUUUUUDWIIIIIIG!" She shouted furiously.

"Oh Lilium, you've made it!" Ludwig greeted her enthusiastically, as if everything happening right now was normal.

"End this now." 

"But we're having so much fun~!" He protested, jumping around playfully. 

She stomped over to him and grabbed him by the collar of his dark gray Jurassic Park T-shirt. "I'm not having fun. Change everything back to the way it was."

"Okay, okay, okay calm down. Twas all just a joke." He said, shrugging her off. 

She sniffed around after catching an odd scent. 

It was smoke. 

A bit of the ceiling came down near her, just missing little Jacob's noggin. She looked up to the ceiling which was currently being consumed by bright blue flames. 

"THE FORTRESS IS ON FIRE!" She shrieked.

"Well yeah," Ludwig replied nonchalantly, "What did you expect after using a flamethrower on it?" 

Suddenly, more chunks of the ceiling collapsed behind Lili. She coughed wildly as she choked on the smoky dust cloud. 

She pointed towards the window behind his control panel. "We've got to get out!" 

"Sure thing!" He replied as if they weren't currently in a life-threatening situation. He grabbed her hand and began to run seemingly toward the window. But Lili knew, despite what movies would have people believe, you can't just jump through glass. 

"Wait!" She pleaded but Ludwig did not listen and forced himself through the window anyway. She heard the glass shatter but then all the noise abruptly stopped, just as it had when this weird game had begun. 

"Lili" She heard Ludwig whisper as he gently nudged her shoulder. She moaned irritably, refusing to be awoken from this strange slumber. She tried to get comfortable but it was just so uncomfortable and hot. Her eyelids fluttered open. 

They were met by the terrifying sight of her living room on fire. 

When she inhaled to scream, raw, black smoke was sucked into her lungs. She coughed fiercely before frantically feeling around for baby Jacob. Interrupting her search, she felt a pair of strong arms lift her up. 

"Come on!" Ludwig exclaimed, "Roy's already got Jacob outside!"

She barely had time to nod in agreement before Ludwig began dragging her outside. Lili tried to get him to stop so she could grab some shoes at least but he wouldn't slow down. She nearly tripped down the front steps as he pulled her out the front door and across the busy street. 

"JACOB!" Lili exclaimed as they approached Roy and he handed over her son to her. He hugged him tightly, heaving a heavy sigh of relief. She planted thankful kisses all over his little face. Beethoven, who had sneakily run out along with them, leaped into Ludwig's arms to avoid getting his little paws dirty. She gave Beethoven some ear scratches, happy to see him.

Before raw panic set in.

She turned around. "Roy, where's Joseph?!" Lili exclaimed, trying to remain calm. 

"Argh! He must still be in the house!" Roy replied before flying back in to retrieve him. 

"Hold Jacob," Lili ordered, attempting to hand him over to Ludwig. "I'm going to help too!"

"But I'm holding Beethoven!" He protested. 

"BEETHOVEN CAN WALK! Just take the damn baby so I can save his brother!" She pleaded, tears beginning to flow from her orange eyes. 

"Lili, you can't! It's too dangerous! Roy's in there, he'll….be out of there in jiffy." Ludwig assured her. 

But that didn't stop Lili from worrying as she watched the bright blue flames devour her terrace home. Her first house since she'd begun her new life. By this time, a small crowd had begun to form. Eva, who lived in the house next door, had made it out with her cats in tow. 

Despite Ludwig's warning, her legs started moving on their own accord as her maternal instincts took over, pulling her towards the house. Beethoven leaped out of his arms and attempted to intercept Lili's movement. 

"Lili, no!" Ludwig yelled, physically blocking her path. Just as he did so, the house violently exploded. Billows of smoke and large blue flames shot out everywhere. 

A blood-curdling shriek erupted from the depths of Lili's soul. It took him so off guard that he thought she'd accidentally been hit by some shrapnel from the blast. In his mind, that was the only event that warranted such a scream. Even though Ludwig's body shielded her from the explosion, she felt like her beating heart was torn apart as she assumed the worst. With her free fist, she beat out her anger on Ludwig's chest. 

Everything was happening so fast, he didn't know what to do. This was the first time he'd ever encountered such a situation. So he did what he'd seen on TV:

He gently pulled her into a hug, careful not to squish Jacob's head too tightly. She bawled into his shoulder, accidentally tainting one of his favorite T-shirts with her snot. Now that she was embracing him, she could feel that the back of his shirt had been scorched by the explosion. She rubbed her hand on his warm, bareback. Unexpectedly, it actually seemed to soothe her….if only a little. 

The Fire and Rescue Service pulled up and began to get to work on putting out the fire and keeping it contained. Thankfully Eva had called them, for Lili had been so busy panicking she forgot to. 

She caught sight of a fireman and shoved Jacob into Ludwig's open arms before running over to them. 

"Please! You have to hurry! My baby's in there!" She cried hysterically. 

"How old is he?" 

"H-he's only 3 months." She replied wearily. 

"Where did you leave him?" 

"He should be u-upstairs, in the large bedroom on the second floor. Y-you go past the bathroom and then on the upper level there's the nursery and there's my room! He should be in a bassinet on the right side of the bed!" She explained, trying to keep it together to give the man as much information as possible. 

"Thank you Miss, you've helped us enough.You can help us even further by standing back out of harm's way and keeping calm." He told her firmly. 

His certain voice calmed her down and she walked back over to Ludwig to wait.

                                                ****

The next few hours passed by in a hazy blur. The fire brigade eventually put out the fire, but by that time, the house was barely salvageable. She hadn't even been allowed to step back inside to inspect the damage because the structure was so damaged and unstable. They would be much better off just tearing the whole building down. 

Everything was gone: Her house, her bedroom, her Christmas gifts, anything Adzuki had left at the house, her entire wardrobe, the kids' baby books, the boys' nursery and all the expensive baby supplies she'd filled it with, and worst of all: Joseph. 

The blue fire had spread extremely quickly. The officials said it must've burned through the floor of her bedroom, which caused the floor to collapse. The debris from the second floor fell through the living room on the first floor and into the cellar. And with it, fell Joseph and his bassinet, which--along with the other debris--physically crushed him upon impact, killing him instantly. 

Or so she liked to think. She'd hoped her sweet child didn't have to suffer as he left this world. She couldn't bear to think about what his desperate cries must've sounded like as he called for her, the one who was supposed to love him unconditionally and protect him from all seen and unseen danger. She'd wondered if he pondered if she'd forgotten him in his final moments, that he wasn't important enough to save. While exploring the wreckage, they'd found Joseph's body but it was burned beyond recognition. The only reason they knew it was him was because he'd been the only one left in the house. 

As they carried his remains away, she kept on whispering to them "Mommy's sorry" and "Mommy didn't forget about you". 

Ludwig lost some pretty important stuff too: the computers, the TV, his gaming consoles, his bedroom, his clothes, all his merch and memorabilia, the blood supply from the government, his passport and other documents he'd search so badly for, and not to mention the Jurassic World figurine he'd literally just gotten for Christmas. Hopefully, he'd be able to buy a new Sweeney Todd replica razor online. All his computer games were already paid for on Steam, so all he would have to do is re-download them on a new computer. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if he'd be so lucky with his Switch….

Beethoven lost literally all of his cat food, toys, and supplies. And….Roy didn't really have any earthly possessions. But he did lose Joseph as well. He'd never said it aloud, but Joseph was his favorite of the two. He was pretty mellow and chill, and Joseph seemed to prefer Roy as well. He felt guilty, if only he'd gotten to him in time….

After she phoned the insurance company to inform them of the incident, Lili called Adzuki to tell her what happened. She'd considered keeping it a secret, she didn't want to worry her daughter with unneeded stress when she needed to focus on her studies. But she told her anyway. Adzuki wanted to come home to help out and support her mother during this trying time, but Lili firmly refused. She appreciated the offer but there was hardly anything she could really do. She could help by staying at school, where Lili knew she was safe with a roof over her head and a nice bed to sleep in. 

Which was much more than she could say. All she had was clothes on her back, the socks on her feet, and her phone which she'd thankfully had in her back pocket. Thankfully, the car had survived because it was in the stone garage, which wasn't actually attached to the house. Ludwig had his clothes and phone too, though his tattered, dirty, crusty, musty, dusty, shirt was barely wearable at this point. It was one of his favorites, but it needed to be put to rest. So he took it off and attempted to cover his butt (which was now peeking out of his burnt sweatpants) by tying it around his waist. The cool breeze felt nice on his chest anyway. 

Thankfully, they were offered temporary support and accommodations via the Fire and Emergency Support Service. They even had support for pets and baby hygiene items, clothing, bottles and diapers for Jacob. As she breastfed Jacob, she wondered if he was aware of his brother's passing. She wondered if he ever wondered why Joseph no longer showed up to the open breast milk bar. She wondered if Jacob missed him. Perhaps he could've even been happy Joseph was gone, for that meant more milk and attention for him. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she sure as hell missed him. She cried every night and every day at the shelter. Despite all of this, they couldn't stay there. They couldn't burden those kind people forever. 

The 3 had barely spoken since the incident. They were all filled with silent guilt and resentment for themselves and for each other. They were afraid that if they opened their mouths to talk about it, words would be exchanged that might've been better left unsaid. 

Well, except for Ludwig, but he could tell no one was in the mood for talking. He wasn't really saddened by the loss of the house at all. Sure, he was upset that he'd lost his possessions, but that wasn't everything he owned. And they were simply materal things anyway. Houses and homes had always been temporary for him. From what he could remember of his long life, he was very used to moving around. Whether it was because he was kicked out of his previous home or because he chose to leave for one reason or another. He'd suspected that one day the same fate would befall Lili's house, though he'd predicted he'd be the one leaving. He'd suggested picking a nice spot in some nearby forest to restart their lives, but Lili said the forest was no place for a baby. 

Just as Lili was wondering what in the hell their next move would be, she was visited by an angel.