Chapter Text
It had seemed to Luigi at first that it was going to be like any other rescue he and his brother Mario had done before. The princesses had been kidnapped, and off the brothers set to rescue them, like always.
Luigi remembers four things in particular from that night:
The terrible storm from a pitch black sky,
His brother's unusual bitterness,
Being saved
and eyes that glowed a bright amber.
Luigi thought it had been strange that the moon and stars were gone. Despite the torches on the staircase leading up to Bowser's castle, everything had been swallowed by the sky’s darkness. Luigi trudged behind Mario up the torch-lit steps towards the tall wooden door. the rain was heavy, but still everything felt eerily quiet. Perhaps because Mario had not said a word since they left. Luigi couldn’t help but feel unsettled by it; But he knew it was not the time to be distracted by such things. The brothers begin to heave open the doors.
They both knew which part of the door to push. They both recognised the rough texture of the door through their gloves. As they slipped through the castle doors The piercing cold they were met with was nothing but familiar.
This is like any other rescue , Luigi had thought.
Peaches' scream rang through the halls, sending shivers down Luigi’s spine. Mario grunted angrily and took off down the dark hall towards his Princess. Luigi, as he has always done, followed a foot behind without another thought.
As the brothers reached the end of the hall Mario spun towards a dimly lit staircase in the corner of the room, and Luigi confusedly followed. At the top of the stairs Mario suddenly halted. Luigi bumped into the back of him, not ready for Mario to stop so abruptly. Luigi peered over his brother's shoulder.
The brothers found themselves on the second floor of a huge amphitheatre. The lights running along the stage and stairs shone brightly, and despite the empty audience it almost seemed lively. Centre stage, in a tall extravagant cage, were the princesses. He found them straight away.
Nice job brother.
Princess Peach was huddled against the metal bars, choking on her own tears. This never got any easier for her. Daisy was pacing in front of Peach, in her own thoughts.
Luigi’s eyes flickered over to Mario’s. They were looking straight towards the cage, determined, yet empty.
For the first time that night, Mario spoke.
“You get the princesses, and I'll handle Bowser.”
Daisy looked up in their direction and her eyes met Luigi’s. He awkwardly nodded in her direction.
“Sure Mario I can do that, but we don't even know where Bowser is. Maybe we should get the princesses and leave while we still can.”
Mario cut him off.
“No; I’m getting Bowser.”
Without another word, Mario jumped off the second floor and disappeared, leaving Luigi alone with the princesses. Luigi let out a worried sigh.
Without wasting another moment he jumped off the second floor and clambered towards the stage.
Luigi took a mushroom out of his overall pocket and ate it. He immediately felt himself increase in size. Luigi swung his fist at the cage roof, knocking it clean off. As Luigi shrunk back to his original size, the cage's walls wobbled, before falling over. He turned towards the princesses to see that Peach was now standing with the help of Daisy, her frail body leaning against Daisy’s shoulder.
“Is Peach injured?” Luigi frantically asked.
Daisy raised an eyebrow.
“No, she’s just worn out.”
Luigi let out a sigh of relief. He extended his arms towards them.
“Let me carry her princess, we must get you and Princess Peach to safety.”
“Where’s Jumpman?” Daisy asked as she handed Peach over to Luigi.
He tilted his head in confusion.
“Uhh, oh you mean Mario? He’s trying to find Bowser.”
“So you don’t know where he is?” Peach worriedly chimes in.
They make their way off the stage.
“We’ll find him Princess, don’t worry.” Luigi smiled at Peach encouragingly.
Out of nowhere, the first floor of the amphitheatre entrance smashed open, and Bowser flew through, crashing into the stage. Mario followed, aiming a kick towards Bowser's head. Peach begins to cry and scream again.
“I found Jumpman,” Daisy said half to herself.
The entire theatre begins to creak. The floor beneath Luigi and the princesses shaking in turn. Luigi turned to Daisy.
“Princess, please take Princess Peach and run, this room isn’t stable.”
Daisy almost looked offended by Luigi’s request.
“What about you? You could be crushed!”
“Daisy, please just listen to me and go!” Luigi frantically yelled.
Daisy paused, wide-eyed, before turning around and running, Princess Peach over her shoulder.
Luigi turned around to face the stage. Mario was standing on top of an unconscious Bowser. Luigi felt himself shaking, and tried to force himself to stop. It was him .
The monster hated by all of the mushroom kingdom.
It didn’t matter how many times Luigi had faced Bowser, he felt the same immense fear every single time. A fear that always left him useless in battle. A fear he was insecure of.
Luigi came to the realisation that Mario hadn’t even noticed Luigi’s presence. Mario stared down apathetically at the creature. Perhaps it was the angle or the lighting, but Mario’s eyes looked grey, not their usual blue.
Luigi called out to Mario from afar, finally catching his attention. He didn’t want to step any closer to the beast Mario was standing on.
“Brother! We need to go now! The roof is going to collapse!”
Mario furrowed his brows, and looked back down at Bowser. Without warning Mario jumped up and crushed Bowser further into the ground. Bowser's blood sprayed onto Mario’s face. He didn’t even flinch.
“Mario! What are you doing? You’re going to kill him!” Luigi watched in horror as his brother threw attack after attack at Bowser. Mario threw Bowser into another wall, making the room begin to fall apart even more. Cracks were beginning to show in the amphitheatres roof.
“Why shouldn’t I kill him?” Mario shouts.
“Mario what are you saying? You’re taking someone's life!”
“This monster deserves to die! We’d save so many lives by doing it!” Mario pulled out a rainbow mushroom from his overall pocket, and held it up to his mouth.
What's gotten into him!?
“Mario stop it!” Luigi began to run towards his brother.
Luigi’s hat fell of as he ran, reaching out to grab Mario. Behind his brother Luigi realises that Bowser had begun to stir.
He was still alive!?
Before Luigi could warn Mario of Bowser a new problem arose. The roof finally gave in. Chunks of brick and stone pummelled down towards the floor.
Mario quickly reacted, swapping his rainbow mushroom for a propeller one and launching out of the building. He turned to see Luigi a foot behind him, like always.
Except he wasn’t.
Luigi found that he was frozen in place, too afraid to move.
Luigi you need to go! Why are you so afraid! Just leave god damnit!
But to no avail. Luigi could only manage to crouch and close his eyes. The last thing he heard was his brother screaming.
Well, Luigi thought that would be the last thing he ever heard. But he woke up.
It was dark, but Luigi felt warm.
He didn’t know where he was. Under rubble? It couldn’t be, he didn’t have a scratch on him.
So where the hell am I?, He wondered helplessly.
To Luigi’s surprise the thing he was resting on began to move, making him jump up in surprise. Luigi suddenly felt a rush of cold air and realised he no longer had anything on top of him. It was hard to tell, as the sky was still pitch black. Luigi could just make out the crushed remains of what was once a castle surrounding him.
Wait, what was on top of me?
Luigi turned around slowly. In the dark he felt the presence of another being; He began to shake with fear.
Useless , he told himself. Why do you always have to be so scared?
At first Luigi couldn't see anything. Then a shadow began to stir.
Two eyes appear in the blackness, and their orange glow reflects onto Luigi’s face. Somehow, he stopped shaking.
Amber.
The eyes don’t leave Luigi, a judging intention behind them.
“Who are you?” Luigi whispered.
But they were simply eyes, not a mouth. Instead they blinked.
Without thought Luigi reached towards the eyes, intrigued by their luminosity.
In response the eyes backed away and before Luigi could react he felt a hard swing to the back of his head.