Chapter 1:

Seed of Doubt

"So you really want to go back there, huh?"

The voice caused a chill down Mario's spine.

"Tell me… what's waiting for you there?"

"My family; my friends."

"Yes. That much is true. But do you know what your family and friends need? Why do they appreciate you? …actually that's a bad term. They don't appreciate you anymore, do they?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you've been the hero for… oh, so many years. They've gotten used to it… taken you for granted… needy, dependent, always laying their burdens on your shoulders… I come to wonder why you don't get tired of it."

"I have to protect them."

"If their safety was guaranteed, would you even want to go back?"

"Mushroom Kingdom is my home. I know nowhere else."

"I challenge you to go home, where you know, but as another man…"

"Another man?"

"Disguised… living not as the hero they depend on, but as what you've always wanted to be… a doctor. I challenge you to watch your family. I challenge the fact that they love you for more than your heroics. Especially that brother of yours!"

"Luigi?" Mario finally turned around, but still the source of the voice was unknown to him in the strange void where he was standing. "Of course he does… he's my brother."

"Was there ever a time that you were not looking out for him? Ever a time when he didn't need you? He's as needy as they come!"

Mario felt a surge of anger as he felt he needed to protect his brother from this dishonor. "I will thwart your challenge!"

The voice laughed. "Even now, you protect him. Perhaps the true challenge will be leaving that life behind."

"And if you're wrong?"

"I doubt I am, but perhaps I can grant a wish if you are right. But you must not tell them your true identity, or that you live."

"I accept those terms."

.

Mario found himself in the Mushroom Kingdom, where he worked in the hospital's ER, his dream job. It was as if he had been here forever. He knew his schedule; he had a place to live on the outskirts of the kingdom. He had a clipboard in the crook of his arm as he stood outside a room. He peeked inside the room and swallowed. He had never even imagined that his first patient would be Luigi.

His baby brother did not look good. Princess Daisy was by his side, holding his gloved hand, which Mario noticed was barely white anymore. It was stained with the blood from his left arm's wound. He remembered seeing him from a distance, before the explosion that ended his former life. He was clutching that arm with his opposite hand, as was apparent by the stains, and calling out to him.

Mario shook the image from his mind and approached his patient's bed. The princess looked up at him. She would not recognize him. No one would. He checked Luigi's vitals and wrote some notes down on the patient information sheet in his clipboard. To know the green-clad Mario brother was rare in the Mushroom Kingdom, so he did his best to pretend he did not. "Name?"

Daisy's voice was brittle, "L-Luigi…" She spoke more silently than Mario had ever heard her. She answered all of Mario's questions the same way, until he got to: "Next of kin?"

Daisy looked at Luigi's face. The plumber's eyes were shut, his lips contorted into a painful grimace. "He… Just put me down for that. I'm not his family but… he's my…" Mario held his breath. He had never seen Daisy so broken.

"I'll be back in to check on him later." He left the room and stopped in the hallway, letting out a sigh. It was then that he noticed that Toad and Toadette were waiting in the hallway. "How is Master Luigi?" Toad asked. "Is he going to be alright?"

Mario looked down at their frightened faces. They cared about Luigi so much. It made Mario somewhat angry to know that they were about the only ones who did, besides him and Daisy, and even Princess Peach. Luigi was out there fighting too, but he didn't get any of the glory. And yet, Luigi had never shown any signs of envy toward his brother. On the contrary, Luigi looked at him with awe. He wanted to be just like him, though he never came close.

But as he thought about Luigi, he couldn't help but think about that voice that had created this life for him. He tried to stop himself from realizing there was some truth to her claims. Luigi had always been a needy brother, dependent on him for everything. After all, Mario had practically raised him, and kids only learn what they are taught and grown accustomed to. Still, now he was a grown man. There was no reason that he should be so dependent on his older brother still.

And just like that, the seed began to grow.

.

He had just left the room of a mushroom couple whose baby was very small and ill. However, with the Dr. Mario touch, the baby was almost completely healthy. A nurse came up to him anxiously. "Doctor, the patient in room 08 has finally woken up!" she traded clipboards with him, and he found himself holding Luigi's file once again. The green brother had been unconscious for the entire day, so Mario was eager to see how he was doing.

He walked through the hallway and had to keep from stopping short when he saw the princess herself in the hall, sitting silently with Toadsworth. Peach looked tired and sullen. Mario had never seen her so distraught. She was always so joyful, even when things seemed bleak. But now, she wore a true frown, something Mario had never seen past a small frown of concern. Her eyes were red and puffy. He longed to comfort her but knew he couldn't. Not as Dr. Mario. He passed her silently, watching as she held her eyes in her soaked gloved hands and wept. With a heavy heart, he slid into his brother's room.

Daisy, if it were possible, was in worse shape than Peach. There were dark circles under her eyes, and instantly, Mario realized that she was exhausted. She gazed at Luigi, not even noticing the doctor's entrance.

"I hear you're awake," Mario spoke.

Daisy looked over at him. Luigi's eyes fluttered to look directly at him. Mario felt a strange chill. Luigi had often looked at his brother; it was nothing different to see his eyes focused on his. But then again, it was very different. The look he gave was so different. It was so odd to be an entirely different person as his brother looked at him.

He tried to analyze the look Luigi was giving him right now. It was a hollow expression, but deep within it was something unfortunately familiar. Within it was expectation, expectation for this doctor to help him. Mario looked down at his clipboard. Expectation for help… "Neediness," the voice had said. And she was right. And here he was helping him again. Maybe this was part of that test. His family and friends would treat him the same as a stranger doctor as their beloved hero.

"Do you feel any pain?" he looked up from the paper, eager to get those thoughts out of his head.

Daisy turned to Luigi, who didn't utter a sound, let alone an answer. "Luigi…" she whispered. "The doctor asked—"

His eyes flicked toward her. Mario looked over at Daisy. Her eyes were shining with oncoming tears, something that almost never happened with the headstrong princess. She wrapped Luigi's bloodstained hand between her own and laid a soft kiss on his knuckles.

"Are you in pain, Luigi?"

Still, he did not speak, but he tightened his hand around Daisy's. Mario could tell he wasn't going to get anywhere with his questions. He'd never seen his brother so closed off.

Suddenly, he felt movement behind him. He turned to see Princess Peach. He tried to hold his expression as neutral as he could. She seemed to have calmed down a bit. Her eyes were still outlined in red, but her breathing was steady and calm.

"How is he?" she asked, addressing both Daisy and the doctor, but looking at Luigi.

Daisy stood, dropping Luigi's loosened hand, when the princess came in. "He's…" Daisy stopped, as if she didn't know what to say. "How are you?" she asked.

Peach tried an attempt at a smile. "I want to make sure Luigi's okay," she said.

Mario felt uncomfortable watching this exchange yet being unable to do anything about it. However, there was one note on his clipboard that he knew he had to bring up, as much as he hated to. "Since the patient is stable and awake now, it's safe to move him to another room out of the ER," he told the princesses.

"Thank you for your help, doctor," Daisy looked right at him. Mario was almost shocked to see such a look from her. She had been one person that was never hesitant to scold him, yell at him, or outright hate him. Usually it was for Luigi's sake.

Luigi… he thought. Who I had often abandoned… who I had often forgotten and left forgotten in my shadow. She had every right. Luigi had every right to hate me… but he never did. He was filled with more resolve. You're wrong, you know. He's always loved me.

"But why?" the voice. "Because you were his brother? …or because you were his hero?"

"Doctor?" Daisy tilted her head.

Mario shook his head. "Sorry, miss. You are very welcome. It is my job, after all."

Daisy smiled at him and took his hands. "I thank you all the same."

Mario couldn't help but remember that one time he had saved her in Sarasaland, before she had officially met Luigi, before he had even known she and Peach were good friends. They had had a similar exchange back then:

The princess at the end of this castle was different than Peach. She was already halfway out of her heavy steel chains, undoubtedly tied around her when ropes could not do the trick. When she saw Mario, her face was a mixture of disappointment and relief, a very odd pair of emotions to be sure.

Mario approached her and said, "Princess Daisy?"

"So," she looked him up and down. "You my knight in shining armor or something?"

"…or something." For the first time, he felt uncomfortable in his heroics.

She scrunched her face in thought, and must have decided on being pleasant, because she said, "Thank you."

"It's… well… I guess it's kind of my job."

She smirked. "Thank you all the same."

Mario had soon learned Daisy was a force to be reckoned with. She was no damsel in distress, and they never really talked much about his journey to Sarasaland to rescue that princess.

That was also perhaps the kindest she's ever been to him …not to say that she was cruel to him. That was not at all the case. But Mario couldn't help but believe, now, that Daisy was only kind to him when he was helping her in some way. And it was, indeed, the same look that she gave him then… the same words of gratitude… that she was giving him now.

Mario stated that he had to make arrangements for the transfer of rooms and left. He didn't like these new feelings at all, yet something in the back of his mind… or in the pit of his stomach… or in the depths of his soul… told him he's always had these thoughts.

"No, I haven't," he said aloud, knowing the voice could hear him. "You're tricking me."

"I am not tricking you. These thoughts and feelings are your own."

"You started me thinking about these things!"

"Or perhaps I pointed out the obvious. Stop being the perfect hero for once and start looking at things how they are."

"How they are." Mario shook his head with fierce determination. It's not how they are. Ever the hero, Mario found himself with a new job: protect his friends and family from this falsehood. Protect them from the thoughts that kept creeping into his mind… the seed of doubt that threatened to sprout.