All characters are owned by Nintendo
Bowser stood smiling at Peach, who was locked in a cage. Suddenly there was a loud crash behind him. Bowser turned and found himself facing Mario and Luigi.
Bowser growled and said "do you mind? This is a private conversation."
Mario ran toward Bowser with Luigi close behind. Mario jumped toward Bowser and landed a flaming punch in his stomach. Bowser coughed and stumbled back. Mario made a break for Peach's cage. Bowser growled and started to run toward Mario. Luigi ran toward Bowser and shoulder rammed him, knocking him down.
Mario opened the cage, grabbed Peach and said "come on, Luigi!"
He began running toward the exit with Peach. Luigi started running after them. Suddenly a koopa ran toward him. It dropped on its stomach and slid into Luigi's legs, tripping him. Bowser charged toward the younger Mario brother. Luigi stood up and started running. Before he took two steps, Bowser swung his claws at him. Luigi jumped to the side, but he wasn't quick enough. Bowser's claws ripped three deep gashes in Luigi's left side.
He yelled in pain and put both hands over the wounds.
"MARIO! HELP!" Luigi yelled.
He started trying to run toward the exit. Bowser grabbed the back of Luigi's overalls and pulled him back. Luigi turned to face him. Bowser punched him in the stomach, hard. Luigi coughed up blood and tried to fight back. He swung at Bowser. Bowser dodged it and swung his claws at Luigi's right leg, leaving three deep gashes across his thy.
"MARIO!" Luigi yelled.
Bowser raised his hand for the final strike, claws ready. Luigi stood up straight and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes to find Bowser standing there, just looking at him.
"Get out" Bowser said.
"Wha…what?" Luigi asked.
"The so called 'Hero of Mushroom Kingdom' abandoning his little brother to save his own skin makes me sick" Bowser said "you can go."
"Thank you" Luigi said as he began limping toward the exit.
Once Luigi was gone, a koopa walked over to Bowser and said "King Bowser, why did you allow him to escape?"
Bowser smiled and said "because thanks to that incident, Greenie probably won't come with his brother anymore. Plus Mario won't be completely focused on a fight with a guilty conscious. Also if I had killed him, Mario and Greenie's big mouth wife would have killed me."
Meanwhile, Mario and Peach were waiting for Luigi outside of Bowser's castle.
"Where is he?" Peach asked.
"He will be here in a minute" Mario said.
"I'm worried Mario" Peach said "you should have gone back when he called you."
Mario saw his brother coming out of the castle.
"There he is" Mario said "see, he's fine."
When Luigi was getting closer, they saw he wasn't fine. His face was pale from loss of blood and they saw the three gashes in his side and across his leg.
He stumbled over to Mario, still holding his side with both hands and said "y…you left me behind."
"I thought you were behind me" Mario said.
"Didn't you hear me call you?" Luigi asked.
Mario just looked at the ground.
"Yeah, I would be ashamed if I were your position too" Luigi said.
He began limping toward the Mushroom Kingdom.
Mario tried to help him and said "let you help you bro."
Luigi pulled away and said "No! Since it was too much trouble for you to turn your head to see why I was calling you, I wouldn't dare ask you to put in all that effort just to help me walk. You left me to fight by myself so I'll get home by myself."
He started walking toward the kingdom again. After a few yards, he stumbled and fell to his hands and knees. Then he fell over and passed out. Mario and Peach ran to him and picked him up and began carrying him to Peach's castle. Once they got there, Peach's personal physician began operating on Luigi's wounds and giving him blood.
Peach called Daisy and told her what happened. Daisy rushed to the castle and pulled a chair up the bed Luigi was laying on. She sat down and waited for him to wake up. Luigi stayed unconscious the rest of the day and all that night. The next afternoon, his eyes opened slightly. He looked at his side and saw the stitches, then he saw Daisy.
"D…Daisy" he said weakly.
Daisy smiled and said "Luigi! You're awake!" She leaned close to him and said "you had me worried."
Then she gently kissed his lips.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"You're in Peach's castle" Daisy said.
"How did I get here?" Luigi asked.
"Mario and Peach brought you" Daisy said.
"Mario" Luigi said as he tried to sit up.
"No, no" Daisy said as she put her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back down.
"Save your strength" she said "you lost a lot of blood and your wounds are very serious."
Luigi looked up at her and said "but he-"
"I know" Daisy said "Peach told me everything."
"Why would he leave me behind?" Luigi asked as a tear ran down his cheek.
"I don't know, sweetie" Daisy said.
A little while later, Mario walked in and saw Luigi propped up on some pillows talking to Daisy.
"Hey bro" Mario said as he walked up to them.
Luigi just looked at him.
Mario walked closer and said "I know you're mad, but I had to make sure Peach was safe."
"Why didn't you come back for me after you got her outside?" Luigi asked.
Mario was just standing there, he didn't have an answer for Luigi's question. Luigi looked at his older brother standing there and he suddenly felt angry at Mario's silence.
"I…it's always about you, isn't it?" Luigi said "as long as you and Peach are ok, who cares about me?"
Mario was surprised, he looked at Luigi and said "Luigi, don't talk lik-"
"NO!" Luigi interrupted.
Tears began running down his cheeks as he yelled "don't act like people care about me! Everyone knows your name! Everybody calls me Green 'stache or Greenie or just Mario's brother! Not even Peach can remember my name! When I helped you save her last month, she said 'thank you Mario and Louis'! LOUIS! And you didn't correct her! I'm a nobody! Everyone treats me like I'm just your sidekick!"
He tried to wipe his tears and said "Just go away."
Mario just stood there looking at his brother. He opened his mouth, but couldn't find any words to say. He closed his mouth and took a step toward Luigi.
"Go away!" Luigi yelled as he began to cry.
Daisy stood up and put her hand in Mario's chest and began pushing him out. She pushed him out of the room and shut the door. She walked back over to Luigi's bed and sat back down.
Luigi looked at her and asked "why doesn't anyone care about me?"
"I care about you Luigi" she said "I love you with all my heart."
"I love you too" Luigi said as he started crying harder.
Daisy gently put her arms around him and pulled him close. She rubbed his back and softly said "it's ok sweetie, let it out. You don't have to be embarrassed to cry in front of me. Just let it out."
Luigi laid his head on her shoulder and cried.
Daisy rubbed his back soothingly and said "that's it, just let it out."
Mario was sitting on the couch staring at the floor. Peach walked over and sat next to him.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
Mario looked at her with tears in his eyes and said "my brother hates me."
"What?" Peach asked. Mario told her everything that Luigi said.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it" Peach said "he is just upset."
"He might be upset" Mario said "but he's right. Most of the toads just call him Mario's brother and you did call him Louis, and I should have corrected you; and sometimes I do treat him like a sidekick." He sighed and said "I've been a terrible brother."
Peach put her hand on his shoulder and said "you have a lot of things to worry about on a daily basis. Sometimes things slip from your mind."
"I know" Mario said "but my younger brother shouldn't be one of those things. He should be one of my number one priorities."
That night, Daisy borrowed some of Peach's pajamas and stayed with Luigi.
The next day, Peach's physician came into the room with Luigi and Daisy and said "I think he is strong enough to take him home, Princess. Just be sure he gets plenty of rest."
He handed Daisy two medicine bottles and said "give him one of each of these every six hours."
"What are they?" Daisy asked.
"One is an antibiotic to help keep the wounds from getting infected, the other is a pain killer" the doctor said "like I said every six hours, it would probably be easiest to do it at noon, six p.m., midnight and six a.m."
"Ok" Daisy said.
The doctor turned to Luigi and asked "would you like a wheelchair or crutches?"
"Crutches" Luigi said.
"Ok" the doctor said.
Luigi and Daisy made their way out of Peach's castle and toward Luigi's mansion. When they got there, Daisy helped him upstairs to their bedroom. She helped him out of his blood stained overalls and helped him put on jeans and a green tee shirt.
"What would you like for lunch?" Daisy asked.
"Anything is fine" Luigi said.
Daisy smiled and said "come on Weegie, anything you want. Just name it and I'll make it."
"Anything?" Luigi asked.
"Anything" Daisy said.
"Can you make lasagna with a little extra parmesan?" Luigi asked.
"You got it" Daisy said smiling "and I'll make you those chocolate chip cookies you love for dessert."
"Thanks" Luigi said.
Daisy kissed his forehead and said "you're welcome."
She handed him the TV remote then she went downstairs to make lunch. Luigi turned the TV on and channel surfed until he found a baseball game. He set the remote down and watched the game. A while later, Daisy brought up two lap trays. She set one across Luigi's lap and set one on her side of the bed. She left and came back with two plates of lasagna. She set one on his tray and the other on hers. She started to leave again.
"Do you want some help?" Luigi asked.
"No" Daisy said "you just lay there and relax."
She left again and came back with a plate of cookies, a two liter of root beer and two cups. They ate lunch and watched the game.
At six, Daisy glanced at her alarm clock and said "it's time for your medicine."
She took a pill out of each bottle and handed it to him. He took the pills and washed them down with the last of his drink. Daisy cleaned up their lunch dishes and took them downstairs. She came back and set the trays in the corner. She laid on the bed and watched TV with Luigi for the rest of the day.
