The sky before Mario was vast and grey. Beneath, a sea as dark as coal rolled silently in the cold, dead breeze. The sandy beach beneath his feet stretched away to the horizon on either size. But for the wind and quiet lapping of water, there was silence.

Mario had reached the end again. He could turn back. Or he could carry on. He'd done that a few times before. But where once the sea had been lively and bright, now there waited nothing in those depths. Nothing but blackness and icy cold.

How long had it been since he'd really lived? Mario wasn't quite sure. At least tens of thousands of years. He remembered the names of his friends, what they'd said, but their faces and the sounds of their voices were gone. His memory was as blank as the vision before him.

He knew that he would always remember when he first found out.

"What do you mean, Mario?" Luigi exclaimed. "Bowser didn't hurt you at all?!"

"I know it's unbelievable, but it's true!" Mario replied. He had a barely-conscious Princess Peach in his arms, freshly rescued, and he and Luigi were hurriedly bringing her into the castle. Toads were rushing ahead to prepare her chambers and some food. "Nothing Bowser did could even touch me!"

"Your clothes are a bit burnt." They had reached Princess Peach's bedside and Mario gently lowered her onto it. A Toad quickly appeared to help the princess with a bowl of soup. Luigi merely stood to the side, looking doubtfully at his brother.

Mario gestured to Luigi to be quiet for a while and leant down to give Peach some comforting words. She smiled back at up him. "I'll be fine. I just need a bit of rest now, I think. Thank you though, Mario. For everything."

Mario smiled back down at her. "I'd do anything to keep you safe, Princess. Always. So please, no thank you. It's not a favour. It's because" - Mario had to stop there and quickly change his words - "because we're friends."

"I know that, Mario." Her look was playfully chiding. "But thank you anyway."

He sighed. "Very well. But get some rest."

"Of course. Now, you go and do the same!"

Mario couldn't keep the smile from his face as he and Luigi left. His brother's expression was decidedly less pleased, however.

"Mario, I'm serious. We need to work out what happened back there. You haven't got a scratch on you."

Mario gave Luigi a sly smile. "You're always so worried, Luigi! Just relax a little. We won!"

Luigi's expression morphed into an out-and-out frown, and he stopped walking. "Mario. Something is not right."

"No, Luigi, everything's right!" Mario just couldn't stop remembering the fond look Peach gave him. And how happy it made him! He had suspected for a while, but now he knew it: he was in love.

Luigi had noticed and accepted he wasn't going to get anything out of him that night. Wearily, he rested his face in his hands. "Ok, ok, but we'll talk tomorrow. Alright?"

"Sure!"

"Good. Let's get something to eat from the kitchens and get some rest, then. I'm sure Peach will be up and about tomorrow as well." As they left, a small smile did make its way back to Luigi's face. He'd noticed the way the princess and his brother had been looking at each other for a while now. It was only a matter of time before one of them confessed, and nothing made him happier.

The next morning, once Mario was happy with Peach's recovery from her time in Bowser's castle, Luigi grabbed him and brought him into the courtyard. He'd brought a couple of boxes along with him, too.

"So Luigi, what's got you so concerned about my fight with Bowser?"

"Just that you say you didn't even have to try. And that you weren't burned, scratched or cut at all." Mario found himself on the receiving end of a withering look. "Does nothing about that strike you as odd?"

"Well, it did help me win…"

"Hmm." Luigi opened the box, pulled out a Fire Flower, and immediately used it.

Mario was intrigued. "What are you doing?"

Luigi turned to him, said nothing, and then without warning sent a fireball straight at Mario.

"WHA-" Mario reeled back, throwing up his arms over his face. Nothing happened. Lowering his arms again, he looked at Luigi. "What was that?"

Luigi bore no expression. "I'm testing." Another fireball. Mario saw this one. It flew forth, bounced once on the floor, came up to impact him squarely on the chest, and disappeared.

Mario made no noise. He looked up at his brother, still impassive.

"Once more," Luigi said. The fireball came up to hit Mario in the face. He closed his eyes just before it connected, but felt nothing.

Luigi almost relaxed. "Mario. Something's really wrong. You're absorbing everything."

Mario wasn't sure what to make of this. "I don't get hurt by Bowser, and you do that?"

"Look Mario. Those fireballs did nothing to you. Or your clothes. You're completely unaffected. Completely."

"But…"

"We need to check this more. Let's head out for a little bit."

A brief trip out into the Mushroom Kingdom confirmed things. Goombas walked right through Mario, as did Koopa Troopas. Hammer Bros. could throw and throw and the hammers somehow were somehow absorbed into him. A Lakitu chased after him but could not even affect him, let alone injure him.

Upon the two brothers' return to the castle, both were concerned and immediately informed both Princess Peach and Toadsworth of their findings. From there events moved quickly. Mario went out daily to perform more tasks. Nothing would ever harm him.

And eventually, after several years had passed, the truth was found. Over time, he had used more and more Starmen. Over time, the power they bestowed had become more and more saturated throughout his form. And at some point during his last mission against Bowser, the density of that saturated power had overcome some critical level and become self-replenishing.

As time passed, the sheer extent of Mario's invulnerability became more and more apparent. He didn't need to eat or drink. He didn't have to breathe. He never got sick. And he didn't age.

To say it didn't affect his relationships with his friends would have been a lie. Some people withdrew slightly. Many Toads tried to minimise their contact with him. Toadsworth gave some a talking to for that, but nothing he said could change their attitudes.

Luigi of course stayed steadfastly by his side. And of course there was Peach. She didn't treat him any differently in the slightest. And three years later, after a series of walks under the moonlight and afternoons by the river, Mario proposed to her while serenading her at her balcony. Needless to say, she accepted.

Luigi had said that they were made for each other. And with Mario's invincibility, Bowser and his forces were utterly quashed. Peace settled over the Mushroom Kingdom as it never had before.

Mario supposed later that those were what you called 'Golden Years'. Happiness permeated every hour of every day. He and Peach raised their two children. Luigi himself married Princess Daisy, and they too were blessed with children.

But as time passed, he became unable to ignore the ageing of those around him while he remained as young as ever. Peach told him not to worry, and so for a time he forced those concerns down. But a point came when he found he could no longer do so. Their children looked older than him. Peach's hair was turning silver.

And then the unimaginable. Luigi came down with an illness. One day, he was coughing. The next morning Daisy's scream woke the castle and Mario found that what almost felt like a part of his soul had been viciously torn from within him and died.

For two months Mario had refused to do anything. Then for the first time a rage settled upon him, a rage against what he had abruptly decided was a curse. Why should he have this seeming immortality? Luigi had used almost as many Starmen as he, so why had he not gone through the same process?

But no one knew why. And Luigi was dead. No one would ever again hear his voice. So Mario left for a while. He didn't know why. He walked for three months before finally realising that Peach was waiting for him, so he returned. Finding more grey in her hair than he remembered, he collapsed in her arms and cried once more.

He found the resolve to continue thanks to her support. Daisy also spent more time with them now her husband was dead. All their children were married and now having children of their own. Mario spent all the time he could with everyone, since he now realised how precious their time was.

Next, Daisy passed away. His brother's wife. Mario cried at her funeral. He knew that he was crying more for the fact that he felt as though he had lost his last connection to Luigi than for her death, and he hated himself for that. His wretched feelings almost brought him to leave once more, but Peach held him back.

He loved her more than ever. Every morning and evening they would walk hand-in-hand by the river as they had done so long ago. Their children, and now their grandchildren too, continued to bring them joy. Of course the young ones were so pleased that grandpa was still spry enough to run around and play with them properly, something even their parents had problems with.

One warm evening in the late summer, Mario and Peach were walking by the river. The sun was low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the tall grass as it gently waved back and forth. Mario turned to look his wife in the eyes. They were no longer the piercing blue that they had been seventy years before, but the love they held was no less intense.

He smiled, and Peach returned it. How much I love her, he thought. And then he had a terrible feeling. That night as they lay in bed, he held her hand once more and told her as he always did his feelings for her. She returned her own feelings, they kissed, and they went to sleep.

The next morning Mario awoke to find that his beloved wife had passed away.

The whole kingdom arose in mourning for their loss. Mario walked through the series of events almost in a trance. Some of those wondered why Peach's husband seemed so undisturbed by her death. Only his close friends and family realised the immense pain he was feeling, and so were not surprised when, after her funeral, he told them he wanted to go away for a while.

Mario wandered. He still hadn't cried for Peach. He moved from village to village. Eventually he got far enough away that people no longer recognised him. Finally he realised that years had passed. He didn't know how many initially, but upon finding out at the next village, he hurried back. Ten years.

After months of walking, he returned to the castle where he'd spent so many years of his life. He was relieved it much as he had left it. But at the sight of his family, he remembered Peach's face and he finally found release.

Time passed. His and Peach's eldest daughter was now ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, so Mario simply acted as advisor when he felt it necessary. Most of the time he spent now with his grandchildren, who still thought of him very fondly, and their children, who grew to feel the same way.

But still time passed. And they all grew older. His son died first. And then one of Luigi's two sons. Then Mario's younger daughter. And then his elder. Of all his own and Luigi's children, only Luigi's youngest was left. And then he too passed away.

Their grandchildren grew older. And their great-grandchildren began to marry and have children of their own.

Mario began to feel a constant pain inside him. Of course he felt pain whenever remembering the ones he loved who were no more, but this pain would not stop. Whenever he woke and found Peach gone, whenever he saw his grandchildren who had begun to walk with hunched backs, it intensified.

All too soon it seemed they too began to pass. The aching in Mario's chest became unbearable. He could do nothing though. He stopped spending so much time with his descendants, and simply walked along the river where he had spent so much time with Peach.

This continued. And soon another generation of his family had been born and grown up without seeing so much of Mario. The river remained the same, however.

The days began to blur together. Another generation. And another. And another. And another. These didn't know Mario. Was he really their ancestor? Their parents had said he was a distant ancestor. But perhaps they'd just been lied to. Or perhaps their parents were joking with them, as people sometimes did with their children. The man who lived in the castle spoke to no one save the Toads. All he did was go out in the morning and come back in the evening. So one day a young man with a moustache vaguely reminiscent of Luigi's knocked on Mario's door and nervously asked him if he would mind moving out to make room for the newborn prince.

Mario didn't complain. He bought a small house nearby and had all his belongings moved there. How old was the bed now? More than two hundred years, surely… The river was nearby, though.

More and more time passed. Then one day, an army of Toads descended on the river and began work to divert it. The castle moat had dried up, and a new water source was needed.

Mario was incensed. He marched up to the castle and demanded to speak to whoever was responsible. He tried to explain. But no one would listen. They assumed he was insane. And he was trying to claim he walked there with his wife? He'd never been seen with anyone, let alone someone who might be his wife.

Nothing would be done to stop the destruction of the river. Two months later it disappeared.

Mario set his house on fire that night and left with only a small bag of belongings. He had nothing to do. Nothing to live for. But he couldn't die. So he wandered. He moved onwards and onwards. For a long time he simply followed the path he had so long before when Peach had died. Some places had changed a lot. Others not much at all.

Nothing kept him in place though. So he kept on walking.

Mario's memories from the time he left the Mushroom Kingdom were nowhere near as vivid as those from when he lived there with his family. But even they were fading. He could remember the faces of Peach and Luigi, but when he tried to imagine what their voices sounded like, he drew nothing. That terrified him.

The world was unrecognisable now. Meanwhile, cities had grown, powered by magic. Peace had long reigned, with no Bowsers to stir up trouble. Mario had taken to finding remote regions of the world and sleeping for long, long periods of time. He had no reason to worry - he looked the same as ever, no matter what.

Decades became centuries became millennia. Then a series of explosions destroyed half of civilisation, and the remaining half wasted no time in destroying itself. Mario had no idea what had happened or why. He simply emerged from the cave he'd been sleeping in to find barren ruins strewed across the landscape and pockets of people living in huts.

He wandered back towards where he thought the Mushroom Kingdom was located. He never even knew if he found it. No locations he came across stirred memories. Mario was forced to accept that the world he knew was forever gone.

And so he walked once more. But in his mind he was always looking behind himself, at the people who were forever gone and whom he would never see again.

And so Mario's thoughts finally reached the present. Whatever had destroyed the cities had slowly left the rest of the world barren. People couldn't survive in the wastes. The last person Mario had seen had been a Toad who had simply told Mario that he couldn't afford to feed him. Mario had told him he needed nothing and moved on. That had been years and years before, when small patches of green could be found.

Now all the world was much the same as the sight before him now. Grey skies. Grey land. A black sea.

The only colour that could be seen was the bright red of Mario's plumber outfit.

The same one Peach had said made him look so handsome. The one he was so proud to wear alongside Luigi in his green.

He would keep on wearing it.

He turned around from the sea. Facing the mountains that rose up far, far away, he began to walk once more.