Queen Sunstar: This is a Brighton/Twila story. Brighton is fighting for his life in the ICU at Skyland Memorial Hospital, and Twila may have to make a heart wrenching decision. On to the story.
Twila: Queen Sunstar owns the story, Dr. Toadala, Maria, Solarton, Sol, and Bri. She doesn't own anything regarding the Mario Bros. Hey wait a minute here. This is Brightons job!
Queen Sunstar: I know, but it is your job for this story.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Critical
Chapter One: What is going on?
Twila, the moon, was relaxing by enjoying a good book in Clockwork Castles Library, and didn't notice that the sky had gone dark, when the phone rang. She chose to ignore it, and focused on the unfolding romance in her book, reaching behind her to hit the light switch.
Shalom, a Shy Away wearing a butler's uniform walked into the Library carrying a cordless phone on a red pillow, sitting on a silver tray.
"Milady, Solarton wishes to speak to you." Shalom said, bowing as best as he could while holding the tray.
Twila finally looked up.
"Bring me the phone." She said, putting the book down.
Shalom brought the tray over to her. She picked up the phone.
"Yes? This is she. What? You don't know what happened? Is he okay? What? Skyland Memorial? I am on my way!" Twila handed the phone back to Shalom, and stood.
"Shalom, go have Greg bring the car around." She ordered. The butler bowed.
"As you wish." Shalom walked out of the room. Twila ran to the bedroom, and found her purse. She checked to make sure she had her cell phone, and grabbed her wand. She ran out the front door, where a Koopa Troopa with dark gray eyebrows and mustache, wearing a chauffeurs uniform, stood waiting.
"Milady. Where to?" the Koopa Troopa asked.
"Greg. Skyland Memorial, and floor it." Twila climbed into the back of the silver Ikea Optima with the license plate spelling skylord. Greg bowed, and said, "As you wish, milady."
Greg climbed into the drivers seat, and pulled out of the driveway. He looked back at his passenger through the review mirror with one eye, while the other stayed on the road.
"What troubles you, Milady?" Greg asked, unable to take the silence any longer.
"Its Brighton. He was rushed into the Skyland Memorial Hospital, but I don't know anything else. Solarton was being vague about the details." Twila turned and stared out the window.
"He will be fine, Milady. He will pull through." Greg turned onto the main road, and entered Solarsky. Minutes later, he pulled into a parking space in front of Skyland Memorial Hospital, got out, and opened the door for Twila, who ran inside the hospital. She went up to the receptionist, a toadette. The toadette's name tag read Maria. Her hat was periwinkle blue with a marking of a sun on top, showing she was from Skyland. She wore a nurses uniform, and looked up as Twila entered.
"They brought Brighton in a few minutes ago, and where is he?" Twila asked.
"What is your relation to Brighton?" Maria asked. She had a authoritarian attitude about her.
"Do you not recognize me?" Twila asked, trying to keep her voice level.
"Yes I do, Milady. I take it you are here about Brighton, right?" Maria asked.
"Yes, where is he?" Twila tried again. She was saved by Solarton.
"Twila, there you are!" The Overlord called.
Solarton was old, and wore a solid yellow robe. He had the traditional sun shaped head, but sported a mustache similar to Eldstars. He used a curved cane decorated with mini suns and moons when he walked.
"Lord Solarton, what happened to Brighton?" Twila tried, again, as she followed Solarton to a private waiting room. The room was empty, and consisted of green chairs and couches against white washed walls.
"Sit." Solarton ordered.
Twila obeyed the command. She sensed the feeling behind the simple command. There was authority, and fear, laced into the command.
"Well? What happened to Brighton?" Twila pressed.
"Twila, we may have to let Brighton go." Solarton said.
"FOR SOLARIS"S SAKE ALREADY! WOULD YOU PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?" Twila snapped, causing Solarton to wince at each word.
"Brighton was attacked while working his shift in the sky. These attacks are very peculiar in nature. Brighton is the third victim. The first was a sun working in the Shroob galaxy. He was killed instantly. The second attack happened to a sun working in the Andromeda Galaxy. He died hours later. The Shroob Galaxy is trillions of light years away from the Andromeda Galaxy. No sun, moon, or star can orb, twinkle, dream travel, flame, shimmer, go between, wink, or anything else I haven't mentioned, that kind of distance in two days. Each sun that has been attacked is the head sun of the galaxy. I have no idea over who or what is behind these attacks. Eldstar has grounded all suns." Solarton said.
"What is the nature of his injuries?" Twila felt herself start seething.
"I am not sure of the full extent of his injuries, but he looked like he had been through a shredder." Solarton said. Twila gave up trying to pry information out of the Overlord.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What ever attacked Brighton, and killed Sol and Bri, orbed to each destination." Skolar said, holding what looked like an electromagnetic energy reader with several long antenna sticking out one end. The contraption was black, and the antenna were white. Two of the antennae glowed blue, and the black box buzzed.
"They can't orb that kind of distance, though." Kalmar, who was with him, pointed out.
"True, may be they never orbed the full distance. Professor Gadd and I were working on a theory about how to use warp points to catapult yourself large distances while orbing." Skolar said, pushing several buttons on the box. The thing started jumping around like crazy.
"What are you picking up?" Kalmar asked.
"Solar energy, and lots of it. What is Brightons normal output?" Skolar asked.
"Brightons normal output is a little over 40 kilos, why?" Kalmar asked.
"There is nearly 400 kilos of solar energy, raw solar energy." Skolar said.
"Brighton's highest output reached 120 kilos. No normal sun did this. What about a Cancerous Sun?" Kalmar asked.
"A Cancerous Sun's output reaches 200 kilos, and they go supernova. Even they can't orb a distance like that." Skolar explained.
"Lets see, Shroob to Andromeda is 12.5 trillion light years, Andromeda to Milky-way is again, 12.5 trillion light-years. The next galaxy would be the Irregular Galaxy, and its head sun, Lady Luminosity. It takes two days for them to travel, so she will be attacked two days from now. Call Solarton." Kalmar said.
Skolar pulled out a cell phone, and called Solarton.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solarton was half asleep when his phone rang.
"Overlord Solarton speaking. What? You think Lady Luminosity is next? I will find her." Solarton closed the golden phone, "Twila, I have to go back to Solar Hall, and contact a Sun in a distant galaxy. You okay by yourself?"
"You go. I have called Mario. He is on his way." Twila said.
Solarton passed by Mario in the lobby. Mario walked into the waiting room, and sat next to Twila.
"I took the liberty of calling Luigi, Wario and Waluigi, Daisy, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, and Donkey Kong, who are on the way over. Any news?" Mario asked.
"He was attacked, and they don't know who did it, or why." Twila said, quietly.
"Was it Lowser, Belmoth, or Villana?" Mario asked.
"We don't know." Twila said, as the others began to trickle in.
"Lady Twila, we heard, and we are here for you. We will get through this together." Donkey Kong was the first to arrive. Bowser, and his wife, Eleanor, were right behind him.
"Thanks, DK, you are a true friend." Twila whispered.
Peach and Daisy came in followed by Luigi and Yoshi. Wario came in with Waluigi five minutes later.
"Waluigi, that is the last time I let you drive!" Wario glared at his older brother.
"Well, excuse me for obeying all the traffic laws and regulations!" Waluigi retorted.
Peach pulled a frying pan out of her purse.
"Don't make me use it on the two of you!" She said, glowering at them.
They all took seats, and waited. Mario pulled out a Nintendo DS and a wireless link-up and challenged Luigi to a round of Mario Kart. Bowser joined them, pulling out his own Nintendo DS. Long hours slid by. It was three in the morning when a doctor finally came in to the waiting room. His surgery garb was covered in blood.
"Are you all here for Brighton?" He asked.
"Yes, they are all with me." Twila stood.
"I am Dr. Toadala, the attending that worked on Brighton. The prognosis is not good. He took a hard hit to the abdominal area, and the blow crushed rips, and tore his liver into two. He has massive internal bleeding, and we did everything we could, but it is touch and go. We had a tough time trying to stabilize his vitals, and right now, he is in a medically induced coma. He may not pull through." Dr. Toadala said, keeping constant eye contact with Twila.
"May I go see him?" She asked, struggling to contain her emotions.
"All of you, follow." Dr. Toadala led them down two floors to the ICU, and took them to a private waiting room.
"He is in Room 4, second door on the left of the hallway. Here is my pager. Page me if anything comes up." Dr. Toadala left them.
Bowser turned to Eleanor, and saw the pain in her eyes. The last time they had been in the ICU, they had been forced to decide whether or not to take Koopa Troopa, Eleanor's older son, off of the life support after a bad accident on Rainbow Road. In the end, they lost Koopa anyway. Bowser knew it still hurt Eleanor deeply, having to lose a son like that.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Donkey Kong asked.
He had been there with them when Koopa died. He had felt their grief, and had cried, himself, since he had been in the car with Koopa when it crashed. He managed to escape the car before it rolled, but Koopa had been knocked out cold, and had gotten crushed by the heavy car. He was rushed to Skyland Memorial, and died sometime in the early morning due to an internal bleed
"Yes, but it is not Koopa, may he rest in peace, but Brighton. I wonder, who attacked Brighton anyway?" Bowser wondered, an arm on Eleanor's shoulders.
"Twila, you go first. Mario, go with her." Peach said.
Mario stood, and followed Twila. He braced himself mentally to face what he knew would be a gruesome sight. They walked down to room four, and went inside. Mario heard Twila gasp sharply, and turned to look. Many different monitors crowded the tiny space. Tubes and wires ran from each one, to the injured Brighton, laying on the bed in front of him. Brightons eyes were closed, and pain showed on his face. His chest was covered in thick bandages, and several IV lines ran into his body. Mario noticed the hanging bag of blood, and swallowed, trying not to pass out on Twila. He quickly adverted his eyes from the bag of blood.
"Brighton… Mario, I am sorry, but I have to get out of here." Twila turned and left. Mario turned and followed her. They went back to the waiting room.
"Twila, you were with him for barely five minutes. What is wrong?" Daisy asked.
"It hurts, right now." Twila let the tears she had been holding in, fall freely.
Donkey Kong handed her a tissue. Twila let herself be lead to a chair, and sat. after a few minutes, she looked up at everyone else.
"Go visit him. I will go back in a little bit. I need some time alone right now." Twila said.
"Come on, Daisy. Lets go back and visit." Peach said, dragging Daisy with her. Slowly, the others followed suit. Twila was left alone.
'Please pull through this, my love. I can't lose you.' She thought to herself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Queen Sunstar: That is it for chapter one.
Twila: If you want to read more, leave a review, and Queen Sunstar will be more then happy to update the story. Review, please!