Mario & Luigi
And their chivalrous fight over Princess Peach
By animefan752
Summary: From forth the fatal loins of some two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take one's life, whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with one death bury the Princess's strife.
Caution: This involves a mortifying tragedy, my beloved readers! That simply means that there shall be character death in this fanfic, although, I'm not all too particularly concerned about how you'll respond to it, because, well, the resolution's not that surprising or anything.
Disclaimer: Super Mario Bros, including all characters, do not belong to me in any shape or form. It belongs to the Nintendo Corporation and company, respectively.
A/N: This is just something I was required to write for my English class. I figured I might as well let you guys see it too, huh? Since my entire hour have all just finished reading Romeo & Juliet, it was mandatory of us to write a tragic short story with perpetual action. I didn't know how to come about doing that exactly, but, eventually this happened.
Side Note: I never really pictured them as the Mario, Luigi, Bowser, or Peach from the actual game series, haha. In fact, I would show you all a sketch I had of the characters with the same names, who're basically them, but I turned it in to my teacher for extra credit.
Anyhow enjoy, my beloved readers! Cherish the new season's scenery of plentiful blossoms as you read fervently. Spring has finally arrived!
Gallant, Mario had finally slayed the evil King Bowser, heaving and breathing over his victorious triumph. And this glorious success saved the nimble damsel in distress, the graceful Princess Peach, from her woeful troubles. Or, at least it should have. As the courteous youth Mario approached the Princess with utmost care and gentleness, he could spot the look of unsettled dismay upon her lovely face, as if something still wasn't right, as if there was still a severed end. Mario's younger twin brother, Luigi, soon joined them and immediately caught whiff of her uneasiness as well.
Still, that didn't mean their rescue wasn't entirely in vain. Together, didn't the brothers risk their very lives for Peach's sake? They deserved at least some recognition, yearning for the concerned Princess Peach's admiration. They desired nothing more than her mere acknowledgment, the two youthful twin siblings gathering around the mournful Princess.
"Princess, oh, sweet Princess Peach, what's the matter?" They cooed quietly, in attempt to soothe the delicate Princess and dismiss her anxiety, to let it gradually subside on its own. And, with selfish hopes of earning the blonde Peach's honest adoration, Mario and Luigi both shot her pure glances of sympathy, offering her their polite condolences. "Don't let such a gloomy mask grace such a beautiful face, Princess, your image isn't worth the heavy burden of sorrow."
"Oh, please, leave me be. I want to be alone, so heed my pleas and just go away." She responded with the feeble blinks of her long curved eyelashes, which repeatedly kissed her pink cheeks as she silently shut her blue eyes once again. "Neither of you understand."
Now this certainly hurt them, both Mario and Luigi, their hearts shattering into a million pieces of the littlest shards. Despite their greatest efforts, the Princess had no wish to even recognize them and their courageous struggles? Why, was the world so cruel? Oh, the two dearest brothers held the elegant Princess Peach as someone direly significant in their lives, especially as it was Princess Peach who had stolen their affectionate love. She was the one they devoted their lives to, Mario and Luigi were bound to Princess Peach's endearing tenderness. Yet, she persistently shoved and swatted them away, as if they were meddlesome parasites to her own refined world! What did this mean? Were their doting dreams together with the comforting Princess broken forever? Were they wrong to entrust their eternal love with the darling Princess Peach?
Was there someone else? Was there someone who dared interfere with their smitten attempts?
"I dislike both of you! Don't you comprehend the words that escape my lips?" She continued on relentlessly, harshly, brutally crushing the twin brothers, which left them stranded on their own secluded islands of absolute grief. There, they wilted within themselves, the emotional storms of misery steadily brewing inside both of their slouched figures. "Why are you still here? Leave me be! Go! Away with you!"
This is when the saddest tragedy of tragedies struck, as this enormous indescribable object plummeted straight down, to the floors of the earth — it was King Bowser's forsaken hot air balloon, the cursed vehicle he had once used to inevitably capture Princess Peach time and time again. And now, the frightening thing came hurtling down upon them all at once, as if this was fate, as if this was destiny.
"Princess—!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" She instantly shrieked, her ear-splitting cry piercing the stagnant air around them. The tension immediately grew to an immeasurable thickness, when Princess Peach began to weep and wail forlornly at her grand misfortune. Tears quickly stained her fair cheeks, which soon grew sickly pale, and her gorgeous blue eyes glistened beneath a glaze of freshened anguish.
She was crushed, literally, below the intimidating boulder of a vehicle that had once previously and insistently caught her as hostage. It was a sight to behold, a piteous sight indeed, as the whimpering Princess of Mushroom Kingdom peered up at the incredulous Mario brothers. "Mario, Luigi, please, let me speak briefly of my last words."
"P-Princess—"
"Shush, for now, my time is very limited." She cringed at her own dejected words, the words that proclaimed her final death. But still, with this despairing moment, came that strange flood of relief. If she confessed to the valiant twin brothers now, she would regret nothing as death blanketed her completely. And so, she said quietly and hopefully, with a soft voice just barely above a whisper, "I'll admit, Mario, Luigi, that your faithful rescues have affected me greatly. I truly and honestly do appreciate your efforts, and, even if I cannot love either of you, know that I've held you both in my deepest regards. You are both heroes, heroes that deserve much more than my hand. But still I long for love."
Her heavy eyelids slowly closed with each spoken syllable, but her meager speech wasn't done. Still, it forever saddened the daring Mario brothers when Princess Peach smiled faintly at them. Oh, if only that charming smile wasn't lost to such a hopeless fate! Of course, Mario and Luigi have had countless incidents in which they've both caused the buoyant Princess to grace them with a pleasant curl of her soft lips. Her kind smile reprimanded the world of depression, and instead encouraged others into cherishing their radiant bliss and happiness. Oh, it was horrible, simply incomprehensible, how this grin would be her last.
"That's why I say…my heart belongs…to my beloved." She ended it with the final close of her precious blue eyes, instantly silencing the devastated moment. Yet, curiosity quickly bubbled up from the darkest depths of Mario and Luigi's bodies.
Who was her beloved?
This thoughtful silence only meant both siblings contemplated over the possibilities, weighing their narrow options. Would they draw their weapons and brandish their swords? Would they willingly surrender to one another's envious antics in order to earn the title as divine Peach's beloved? Well, was Princess Peach's endearing love even worth a perpetually dangerous battle of pure rivalry?
"Luigi." Mario soon locked his brother into an intense gaze, glowering at him with utmost venom blatant in his remarkable eyes. Ah, but Luigi eagerly returned the glare of poisonous scorn.
"Mario."
"Endure the lament of Princess Peach's death." Mario pressed on crudely as he distanced himself discreetly from Peach's death bed and from his tactless younger brother, who obviously sought vengeance upon him. Ha, did his naïve younger twin brother finally realize how much more admired Mario was in spite of him, in his own presence? He drew his sword in harmony to Luigi's own rapier. "Instead, let our final battle decide everything, let it choose who the Princess recalls is her everlasting lover, and let my blade decide your fate."
"Princess Peach remained true to the end, brother. And now, so shall I."
Just then, with a determined push of their brotherly figures, each twin propelled himself forward and charged directly at the other, their swords finally liberated from their sheaths' clutches. Only at first had the elder twin brother Mario honestly caught the younger twin completely off guard, but that wasn't enough. In haste, Luigi reacted swiftly with the reflexive lift of his own trusty blade. There, at that exact moment, the two magnificent swords clashed.
Their strengths were absolutely dynamic, but they both had to admit, they were both at an immense loss. The painful and guilty death of the distressed Princess would not cease to ache and shoot pangs of anguish and fatigue at their every nerve. And so, as they forcefully pushed their blades against one another, both Mario and Luigi struggled hopelessly. It was as if their swords could barely withhold their flimsy places beneath one another in such excruciating angles, angles that constantly changed either for the better or the worse. It was true: at the moment, their hatred and jealousy of one another was far more powerful and superior than their faith and brotherly love.
Mario effortlessly drove his blade's masculine edges harder against Luigi's blade, whose rapier owned a slender and more delicate side. Mario was suddenly in such ease and it made Luigi envious and absolutely furious, glaring angrily into those haughty eyes of his brother hanging above him. Mario was completely callous about his impending victory, as if this success was simply inadequate for happiness. It made Luigi boil up inside. Was Luigi's death insufficient for Mario? Was Princess Peach's resurrection needed to bring about peace? Oh, what did this all even mean? Death was already upon him, as it just was for the grieved Princess.
"Brother, Luigi, this is the last. Do you have any last words before your pathetic life ends?"
Luigi winced at his hopeless defeat, gathering up whatever recollection of Mario's memorable glee and faithfulness he could before swallowing his anxieties. "Mario, although you've always been the chagrin of my life, you're still my brother. I know we don't have much time left together, but, I hope that from now on you'll at least acknowledge me, as Princess Peach graciously has. Oh, we've spent almost our entire lives together, but…I suppose that ends here."
"Dear Luigi, of course I'll always remember you." Mario smiled quietly, which left the younger twin brother at least feeling satisfied with himself, as Luigi too smiled wistfully, embracing the affliction that was soon granted to him by his only twin brother.
"Thank you, Mario." And he was dead.
The End