Chapter Text
Luigi groaned and turned in his bed, only slightly gaining consciousness after his well-earned rest. he never wanted to leave his bed, especially since the blankets felt so warm that morning! His brother, however, needed him to get up. Luigi looked blearily over his shoulder, the faint red blur of Mario's hat in his sleep-ridden vision caused him to furrow his brows and close his eyes once again. he felt a light hand try to shake him awake-- but all to no avail as Luigi decided it best for his brother to just go away and let him slee-
"Luigi!!!" Mario yelled, shaking him harder without abandon.
Luigi bolted up, his eyes flying open as they landed on his brother. Mario had just woken too, but he was wearing his overalls with one strap thrown over his shoulder and his hair disheveled. he looked panicked, his eyes darting across the room frantically. Luigi's eyes widened but he quickly frowned at the man.
"fratello! why did you do that? is shouting me awake a new hobby for you?!" Luigi crossed his arms and huffed. mario had no reason to wake luigi up like that, it had been months since anything major happened, marios big fight with bowser-- the odyssey--leaving the warring kingdom rather silent... Mario sighed.
then he whipped the blankets off of Luigi. Luigi shrieked and reached for the warm covers, but it was futile as the blankets fluttered to the ground at the edge of his bed. Luigi gasped dramatically at Mario, hand to his chest and his expression comical as he slowly turned to glare at Mario, quite affronted.
Mario hopped up from Luigi's bed and darted across the room, at the door in mere seconds. "get dressed, bro! we have to go get the princess!" he practically shouted, then closed Luigi's door before Luigi could respond. Luigi gaped at the door before sighing heavily, his hand reaching up and carding through his tangled hair. today isn't going great already, with that thought, he stepped out of bed. the green-clad brother began to get dressed, already feeling the curse of not sleeping in that morning weigh on him.
~~~~~
"why is he just showing up now? what took him so long to recover?" Luigi asked, following his brother along the path laid out for them years ago-- all the way towards a pipe to the koopa kingdom. Mario 'hmm'd and smoothed out his mustache in thought, then he shrugged and threw his hands in the air as if in defeat. Luigi frowned at the reaction, but he understood where
"i don't know. I'm at a loss at this point...i just want to make sure the princess is okay." Mario gave weakly, his worry for the princess showing through his voice. Luigi smiled faintly at that. "Mario... she will be alright, she's never hurt over there and besides-- she's a great fighter." Luigi comforted, laying a hand on Mario's shoulder as they walked. Mario turned briefly and smiled back, all warmth and appreciation sparkling in his eyes. with a relieved sigh he patted Luigi's hand, in return Luigi patted his shoulder before letting go.
"you're right, worst comes to worst, she can handle herself." Mario nodded, but then pointed back at Luigi and quickly amended "but it will not come to that." Luigi chuckled at the gesture and slowed his walk down, the green pipe laden in the ground ahead of them giving Luigi a sense of dread. a shiver passed through him as he thought of the castle, the flames that always just missed him-- and of course, the koopa children. Luigi stepped forward into the pipe, too lost in thought to care about the magic jostling his entire being, and too tired to snap out of it. he thought of how little he saw the koopa children, only leaving them a mushroom after Mario's fights with them as a sort of apology-- really hoping they were okay after every encounter. then he drifted towards the thoughts of E. Gadd, the inventions that junior used-- even Mario too-- and then the shrieking terror of the haunted mansion. he shook himself from his thoughts as they finally landed out of the pipe, Luigi's eyes wide for a split second as he recalled a sliver of the haunted mansion but was quickly back to normal before he saw Mario running. Luigi felt exhausted but followed after, his focus now dead set on the gates of the volcanic castle.
as they passed the threshold a set of koopa soldiers appeared and tried to tell Mario off- but a powered up fist quickly connected with one of their jaws, the other meeting the same fate as they were punched to the side. Luigi, however, was utterly confused. why would there only be two koopa troopas at the gate? shouldn't they have more? Luigi paused in his steps and lagged behind, checking on the troops nearest to him to make sure they were alright. by the time Luigi was done, Mario was already far ahead and down the end of the hall-- large golden doors engulfing his brother.
a zap shook along his nerves, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he stumbled in his slow pace forward. Luigi gasped and turned just in time to see a swarm of troops settle quietly behind him, one of them had their baton raised sidelong to his head with another holding ropes. the green-clad brother reacted a bit too slowly, unfortunately, and suffered a strike to his temple-- effectively turning his world black.
<<<<<<<
"peach!" Mario shouted, staggering in his run as he felt his legs wobble under the intense running he had done that day. which was-- to his credit-- a lot. he had ran from the front doors of the castle, to the throne room-- which he noticed the cage he usually put peach into was completely gone, ripped from its place-- then he ran out of the throne room and searched every room leading up the hall until he finally ran into bowsers office.
princess peach was sat calmly in a plush, velvet chair across the desk from bowser, holding papers in her gloved hands and looking... surprised?
"m- Mario!" she quickly got up and turned fully to face the man, Mario stopped to rest his hands on his knees and take a breath, pointing an accusatory finger at bowser. the finger shook with rage (exhaustion) and peach glanced back towards bowser, cringing a little.
"YOU!!" Mario bellowed, but contrary to his tone he didn't look threatening at all. he was still heaving in air, hands on his knees and his face as red as his hat. Peach, consequently, was at a loss for words.
bowser, though, was not. he arched a brow "...me." bowser repeated incredulously. Mario looked up at bowser and saw peach glimpsing anxiously between the two, her hands fiddling with her gloves and bowser looked eerily calm. he had his hands folded, resting upon the desk and reading glasses on. Mario blinked.
"what... is goin on here." Mario squinted at the two in suspicion while straightening himself out, peach looked guilty. she finally rushed towards the plumber and held her hands out carefully
"now- promise you wont get mad?" peach smiled uneasily, gently placing her gloved hands on Mario's shoulders. Mario looked at her hands, then back up at her with one eyebrow raised. "alright, i promise..." He began gently, curiosity metaphorically-killing him. peach released a breath and wavered him forward towards bowser in his chair. Mario squinted his eyes at bowser but eventually sat down in the other chair next to peach. peach watched him with baited breath--picking up some papers and handing them to Mario, grimacing.
"this is... what is this?" Mario cycled through the papers, one described the Boos and their hierarchy, then another detailed the defeat of king Boo, then the next...
"why do you have this?" The red Mario brother flipped to a crude image of Luigi next to-- what looked like-- a research article. he wasn't sure what the article was about, but the fact that someone documented the likeness of his brother was concerning enough. peach winced and wrung her gloved hands. Mario chuckled half-heartedly.
"care to explain, princess?" Mario asked, finally looking up at her.
"well, you see," she nervously began, "King Bowser called me here to discuss some... concerning claims on your brother. I'm sure you remember the mansion- your brother saved us and, well, defeated king Boo in the process." Mario nodded, remembering how proud he was that his brother did everything on his own-- but he also remembered how King Boo locked them in paintings and how frightened he was for his brother. nonetheless, Luigi made it out alive and saved them in the process, while also gaining ownership over the mansion. "and the hotel?" Mario nodded again, looking down at the papers on his lap quizzically.
"he may have... ahem, that is to say-" Bowser lifted a hand to pause her nervous fumbling, finally looking Mario in the eyes as he continued for her.
"he may have accidentally become a monarch."
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