They say dreams don't tell what is about to come, but what has happened to us. There is a saying that the only thing more vague than the future would be the past. There are people who say that dreams are the door to our mind.
So, when all of this is true... would that mean that dreams would show us a past we have forgotten?

The Dreamer himself doesn't know. He dreams...

We played a game. Everything changed. We were alive and our life was a game. The Game ended. Someone's game ended.

We grew up together. Where? When?

We... We... We...

I...

I played a game. I played it and it meant a lot to me. And you? You...

No.

We played a game. Everything changed. The Rules. The Game.

Our life.

There was a game. And then... there was our life.

Mario woke up as he heard his brother gasping in his sleep. He couldn't help to feel a bit annoyed. Luigi had always had a light sleep and a tendency for lively dreams, but the nightmares that had haunted him for the last weeks were a strain on both of them.

The whole "lets go into your mind while you are sleeping and mess with it" thing just HAD to happen barely a week after Luigi had finally found restful sleep after the last ghost fiasco again. As annoying as losing sleep could be, Mario also became more seriously worried about his brother every day.

So he left the warm embrace of sleep and his own bed to walk over to his brother's.

"Luigi? Hey, You okay, bro?"

Luigi looked at him, his eyes wide and his breathing still way too fast and ragged.

"M...Mario?"

Mario just sat at the edge of Luigis bed and looked at him. Even after all this time he just couldn't bear to see his brother this terrified. And Luigi looked like something really spooked him.

"Still these dreams?"

"... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up..."

"It's okay. It's not your fault. Just... are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

"... I would, Mario, but... I just can't remember.", said Luigi quietly. "I.. I'm just so afraid but when I wake up I don't even know WHY." He sighed. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be, Luigi. I should be sorry... you had to endure a lot in our last adventures...", said Mario and, seeing the begging look on Luigi's face, decided to climb to his brother into his bed.

Not everyone would admit it, but sometimes there is no better cure for the haunting feeling after a nightmare than a hug from a loving sibling and a talk in the dark.

Luigi first said nothing but looked a bit more relaxed when he felt the warmth of his brother beside him.

"I think I dreamed about... the End of Games, you know...?"

"... about the Underwhere?"

"I don't know. Maybe. It looked a bit like it... It was really scary there. In the Underwhere, I mean."

"It was frightening to find you there.", said Mario, sighing. There were things that would forever haunt him. This was one of them.

"You were scared?"

Mario blinked. Luigi seemed surprised at this notion and he didn't understand why Luigi could have thought differently.

"Of course I was scared! First thing, the Underwhere IS a scary place. And I thought you were safe and sound at home and then I find you in the river Twygz and... For a moment, I thought your game had ended and I hadn't been there for you, didn't even know what happened. I thought there was nothing I could do."

That seemed to calm Luigi but Mario had a feeling that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Did you really think that something like that wouldn't affect me?"

"No... no, I know. It's just... Sometimes.", answered Luigi.

"Sometimes what?"

"Nothing. I just had this nightmare one time, you know? Where everybody hated me because I did something that was really, really bad for... everything. Like... dooming everything and everyone with one stupid mistake. And it was all my fault. Did you ever had such a nightmare, that just... doesn't let go of you?"

Mario was silent for a few minutes, thinking. Luigi's nightmare sounded like something out of the years when... well... things really had been hard for Luigi. When people would forget his name and make life difficult for him for no good reason. But things had begun to turn around, people recognised him nowadays, even Bowser had managed to remember Luigi's name. Even when Luigi tended to have a lot of bad luck in the past, Mario couldn't think of one situation where he could do something that would result in open hate for him from anyone.

But it wasn't as if Mario couldn't relate. When so many people look up to you, you couldn't help but to worry about disappointing them one day.

"Sometimes... Not often, but sometimes, I have a nightmares and occasionally I think about some things over and over and over."

What exactly haunted his darkest hours wasn't something he should burden Luigi with, thought Mario.

"But no matter what, we live in the present. And I know that as long as I have my brother by my side, we can do anything.", said Mario, smiling warmly at his brother.

That made Luigi smile a bit, too, and Mario felt somewhat relieved. Seemed like he had been successful in cheering up Luigi.

"You are right, bro. Thank you."

"Not for that. And now sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

If Mario had known how right he was with that, he wouldn't have fallen asleep as fast and peacefully as he did.

" What do they feed you Mario Brothers, anyway? Gullible Soup?"

" STOP MESSING WITH MY BRO!"

" I'm a Ghost Hunter!"

" Take me with you!"

" I don't want to be alone..."

" ...please... don't..."

" Mario?"

" MARIO!"

The next morning brought letters from the princess and some much welcome distraction from nightmares and unhappy thoughts. So they headed off to the castle, excited for the news Peach promised in her letter.

It seemed to be the start of another adventure. Mario would say it sounded just like it always did. Professor E. Gadd, genius, inventor and friend of Luigi, came to the palace with news of a discovery. It sounded so... simple. Even fun.

A game, that people had played many, many years ago. Some sort of myth. An exiting myth from cultures long gone, and it involved some kinds of puzzles and all that stuff.

"You mean... people believed that you can create a WORLD when you play the game?", Luigi asked, fascinated but sceptic.

"Not a world, my young friend.",Gadd said with a slight laugh. "A whole new universe! This is the price you get for beating the game. A universe and a world that the players always wanted. A recreation of what they deem their paradise. Well... what the Game would recognise as what would be considered a paradise. There ARE a few warnings that this could be twisted into something the player wouldn't intent, but that's the gist of it."

Mario looked at Peach who hadn't said anything the whole time.

"What do you say, princess?"

"Hmm? Oh... yes, this sounds... very strange. Where did you find all of that, Professor?"

"The new dig at the very edge of your kingdom. The Beanbean kingdom was very helpful when I had to expand on their land."

"The Beanbean Kingdom?", Luigi asked, head moving upwards. Mario smiled a bit at that. He knew what Luigi was thinking. "Was Prince Peasley there? How is he?"

"Oh, he visited the dig one day. A very fabulous guy, huh? He seemed fine."

Mario just grinned at the look on Luigis face. He didn't know why but the prince and his brother were somehow drawn to each other. Peasley would praise just about anything about Luigi and Luigi alternated between being flattered and flustered about it and holding Peasley on a pedestal himself. It was kind of endearing. (And a relief that there were people out there who would appreciated Luigi as himself and not just as his brother. Even if Mario could never quite wrap his head around the fact that a bean was flirting with his brother and said brother didn't seem to mind.)

Unfortunately, Peasley had his responsibility to his kingdom and Luigi himself was to dedicated to protecting the Mushroom Kingdom (and to the part-time-jobs done for Professor Gadd) to go on vacation very often.
They DID write letters. Mario knew about them even if his brother tried to keep them a secret. It wasn't that they wrote each other embarrassing stuff (Mario checked. He WAS a bit ashamed of that but he couldn't bring himself to care too much) but some things were pretty personal between them (those were the things Mario tried to forget as soon as he had read them. There WERE things he never wanted to know about his brother and things Luigi would never want Mario to know. And other things he waited for Luigi to tell him. His brother should know better than to be afraid of being judged, but Mario would let him keep his own pace with that.)

The letters from DAISY on the other hand? Whole other kind of ball-game. Luigi would have his head if he would read THEM.
He smiled a bit at the memory of his brothers face as he snatched a letter from Daisy out of his hand this one time, head red as a tomato and stuttering like crazy. Mario never figured out what was between Luigi and Daisy. Or Luigi and Peasley.

Sometimes he thought about how it would be a good idea if the three of them would meet up together. But he wouldn't meddle with the love-life of his brother... much.

He grinned a bit at this thought, as he looked at Luigi chatting with the professor. His eyes moved back to the princess.

Mario still saw the thoughtful look on Peach's face.

"Princess? Is everything all right?"

"Huh? Oh... yes, Mario... It's just... this tale reminds me of something my mother once told me... but... I can't seem toremember."

"Well, but I didn't come here just to tell you about the game. I came because I believe I have found a way to PLAY it. But because it seem to be quite dangerous...", Gadd begun to explain, letting the end of his sentence fade into silence.

Luigi looked at Mario, half-fearful, half... interested? Oh, Mario grinned a bit. Luigi had an adventurous streak, he just didn't let it out very often. But this? Luigi was so hooked on this game-thing! It would be fun if it was what Mario thought it was. And would maybe bring Luigi some more happy-thoughts than their last adventures.

"You want help from Mario and Luigi, huh?", Peach said, a smile on her lips.

"Yes, yes. I would like their help."

" Look! Look what I have found! It's like... the coolest thing EVER!"

" It's a game. Calm down, okay?"

" You just saying that because you didn't play it. Everybody says that it's amazing! Like the greatest game EVER!"

" Yeah? Well, play it then... Maybe we play it together later, okay?"

It turns out that they had no CHOICE whether to play the game or not. Gadd found out that meteors were heading straight for the Mushroom Kingdom only hours later and the only thing that could save them would be to play the game and relocate everything to the "Medium" or to create a world where they all could survive.

It wasn't a good plan. Mario would later say that it was a very, very bad idea. But nobody knew better and nobody had a better plan. Luigi even said so himself. He convinced Mario that there was no other way. So they did it. Mario and Luigi started the game.

I don't know... I just don't know. I don't remember. We just played a game. It was a game, wasn't it? But we forgot.

I don't remember their faces. I don't remember who they were. I don't remember that I forgot.

It was... it was and then it wasn't and...

Why don't we remember?

Why do they not remember me? Why did they forget me?

Or was it just a dream?