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Chapter 3

His consciousness was slowly returning.

Luigi's eyes moved lazily beneath his shut eyelids as he shifted beneath the thick comforter. Responding to instinct, he rolled onto his back and stretched his aching muscles, all the way to his fingertips and his toes, emitting a strained and sleepy groan all the while. He had never once required an alarm clock; Luigi's natural circadian rhythm always seemed to wake him up at exactly the same time.

With eyes still closed, he rolled onto his left side to face his brothers bed. As strange as it was, his inner alarm had always almost exactly matched Mario's, though Luigi's tended to lag a minute or so behind. He knew beside him that Mario was either just waking up, or was already sitting up in his bed glancing out the window to the new day or rubbing his fatigued eyes to prepare them for the bright light of the morning.

"Morning, bro..." Luigi mumbled, his standard signal to his brother that he was now awake. He accented his greeting with a hearty yawn, then offered a lazy smile still half buried in the pillow.

A soft voice beside him breathed a delicate chuckle. "Good morning, Luigi." It responded in a pitch too high to be Mario. "Are you feeling any better?"

Startled by the unfamiliar response, Luigi immediately bolted upright, opening his eyes wide.

The dazed man instantly realized that he was not in his own room as he had thought. Instead of seeing Mario half draped in his ruby comforter or the shared nightstand between the brothers beds, he saw the Mushroom Kingdom's own Princess sitting beside him on an elegant chair, a modest stack of papers upon her lap. Though her face was in its usual sweet smile, Luigi could tell from the dark rings beneath her eyes that she was fatigued and distressed. His confusion only mounting, Luigi quickly scanned the rest of his surroundings, noticing to his surprise that he had awoken in one of the castles guest bedrooms. What on earth, he wondered, was he doing in here? Why had Peach been waiting beside him? Most importantly, where was Mario?

It took only a fraction of a second of thought for the memories to come flooding back. All the pain and suffering from the night before slammed into him with the strength of a freight train, the entire event endlessly replaying in his mind. He remembered that, for reasons he couldn't even begin to understand, Mario had transformed into some kind of horrible monster before Luigi's very eyes and took off into the night. And he remembered following the guiding light to the castle in search of assistance. A wave of nausea rolled over him as he realized that those events weren't a part of some nightmare created within his mind, as he would've liked to believe. Waking up in the castle proved the incident was all too real. Somewhere his brother was out there, suffering all alone. He had to find him, fast. Yet he still had no idea where to begin.

"Mario!" He shouted, attempting to cast off the blankets but only managing to get himself tangled in his haste. "H-he's in trouble! He needs me! He... I... There's something really wrong with him! He's..!"

Princess Peach, startled by how quickly he had returned to his panicked state from the night before, fought to grab hold of one of his rapidly flailing hands. "Luigi! Wait!" She begged, catching his fingers and holding them firmly to his lap, halting his thrashing and bringing his attention back to her. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on! Now, what's wrong with Mario?"

Luigi's terrified hyperventilating slowed considerably in response to Peach's soothing voice. He closed his eyes, attempting to manually organize his own chaotic thoughts. "Last night..." He wheezed, still trying to calm down further. "Mario... He wasn't acting right."

Peach only solemnly nodded at this statement, her face falling as she remembered Mario's uncharacteristic outburst at the kingdom assembly. "I know. He wasn't at all." She agreed. "Did something happen to him? Was there something that had been upset him earlier in the day?"

An irrational and inescapable guilt crept up on Luigi, and he buried his face in his hands. "I don't know!" He admitted, frustration audible in his voice. "He never told me anything! He just got really mad and started screaming and breaking everything he could see! I tried to stop him and then he... He..."

Suddenly, as if he were seeing an instant replay, the familiar image of Mario from the night in question appeared before Luigi. The scene played out frame by frame in an agonizingly slow manner. Mario's back was turned and his arms pinned, but he effortlessly escaped Luigi's grip and swung around, his fist closing in on his younger brothers face. Just before the moment of impact, Luigi reopened his quivering eyes, now spilling over with tears.

"He hit me..." Luigi cried, just as shocked at the action now as he had been when it had happened. "Mario actually hit me..." Luigi's voice dissolved into uncontrollable sobbing that he attempted to bury within his hands.

Peach inhaled in a sharp gasp at the brothers accusation, covering her mouth with petite gloved hands. She was flabbergasted. Mario physically hurting Luigi? It was simply unheard of. Peach couldn't even fathom the very idea. Mario, she knew, would never dare to let any harm befall his brother, let alone harm inflicted by his own hand. Try as she might, she just couldn't believe it. She was certain Luigi must have been mistaken. He had been so exhausted and disoriented when he had arrived at the castle that night and collapsed, much to her horror. Maybe he had only dreamed the attack...

"What happened after he hit you?" Peach layed an understanding hand upon Luigi's shoulder to calm his sobbing. She would need the entire story before she could pass judgement on its authenticity.

Luigi leaned slightly into Peach's touch, desperate for emotional comfort in Mario's absence. "Then he looked at me like... Like he wasn't sure what happened." He brought his hands from his eyes and squinted in thought. "And so he ran. He ran as far and as fast as he could from me. I followed him for so long... I don't remember where we were when all of a sudden, he stopped."

The younger man paused. Tension mounting exponentially, Peach waited impatiently for the tale to continue. "Why did he stop?" She whispered, unable to stand the agonizing delay.

Luigi's eyes grew unreasonably wide. "He screamed." Luigi's voice had become monotone and dark. "And he changed. Mario turned into a... a monster..."

"Did he attack you again?" Peach questioned, trying to puzzle out what Luigi had meant by the statement.

Mildly frustrated, Luigi shook his head. "No. I mean that he..." Luigi raised his glistening blue eyes to Peach's. "He became a monster. An actual hook fanged, claw footed beast. He just kept screaming as his body transformed. And he hissed at me and looked like he wanted to hurt me again... But then..." Sighing, Luigi broke eye contact and turned to the window upon the wall. "He just left. He looked me in the eyes and then ran off. I was so tired and terrified... I could never have kept up with him. I don't know where he went. But he's still out there, somewhere. And he looked so scared... I have to find him..." He turned once more towards the princess beside him. "When I saw the light from your castle, I decided to come here to ask for your help."

It took Peach several seconds of silence to realize Luigi's story had ended, as she had had nothing but trouble absorbing that last part of it. Realizing her silence but unable to formulate a response, she only managed to mutter a simple 'hm' in acknowledgement of his tale. She decided she had been right in assuming the man had dreamt the scenario. The tail end of the story had gone completely off the rails, far too unbelievable for it to possibly be true. Luigi, she knew, suffered from chronic, terrible nightmares. This, she decided, was just a particularly stressful one. Perhaps he had awoken after wandering outside in his sleep and panicked when he couldn't tell where he was. Still, the stern way he had stared into her eyes while explaining Mario's transformation; he looked so convinced that this had all really happened.

Not wanting to upset Luigi by disagreeing with his belief of the stories authenticity, Peach tried to come up with another way to put his fears at ease. He had lowered his weary head into his hands when he had finished speaking, so Peach leaned a tad closer. "Hey, it's okay." She spoke in a voice similar to a mother comforting a child. "I'm sure he couldn't have gone far. In fact, he probably went back home looking for you."

Luigi, mildly surprised by Peach's calm reaction to being told Mario's strange plight, looked up to the princess with hope refilling his eyes. "You... You really think so..?" He mumbled.

"I do." She nodded. "And I bet he's just as worried about you as you are about him. So let's get you home, alright? I can even walk you there myself just to make sure you're both okay."

Eternally grateful for Peach's willingness to help, Luigi quickly accepted the offer with an excited nod. He still didn't know how to turn Mario back, but at least he would have help in figuring it out.

Just then, a loud, exaggerated cough emanated from the doorway behind the princess. She and Luigi turned fast in surprise to see the older toad servant, who had overheard the very end of the conversation. Toadsworth looked to Peach with a stern expression, drumming his stubby fingertips across the top of his walking stick.

"Uhm, Princess?" He coughed. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

Confused, Peach slowly rose to her feet to accompany the attendant. As she made her way towards the door, she turned to Luigi with a reassuring smile. "I'll be just a second." She stated. "We can head out as soon as I get back."

The princess slowly eased the door closed behind her as she joined Toadsworth in the elegant castle hallway. The elder toad curled his brow in frustration, adopting a more stern and somewhat disciplinary stance.

"Princess! Need I remind you of the multiple representatives we have arranged to meet with you today?" He growled in a whisper. "You don't have time to go out for a walk right now! I can send a royal guard to escort Master Luigi home, but you are very busy!"

Peach, understanding of Toadsworth's anger, turned towards the closed door as if she hoped to see through it. "I know, Toadsworth." She sighed. "But seeing Luigi arrive so distraught last night and passing out on his own two feet; I'm really worried about him. It sounds like he may be delirious with a fever of some sort. I just want to make sure he gets home safe, and I'd like to explain the situation to Mario as well. He's probably just beside himself with worry not knowing where Luigi is. I can easily return with plenty of time to prepare for the first meeting of the day."

Still somewhat concerned, Toadsworth slowly abandoned his aggressive posture. His whole face softened in understanding, and he closed his eyes with a sigh. He knew Peach had been anxious to speak with Mario again after his strange outburst the day before, and this was the perfect excuse to go see him. And it had been rather concerning when Luigi blacked out in front of them. If it weren't for the castle doctor's quick reacting and assurance of his overall health, the whole place would've erupted in panic. It would therefor be wise to send someone with him in case another fainting spell were to come on. He also knew how much Princess Peach truly cared for Luigi. Though it was his older brother that she was romantically attracted to, she had come to see the younger man almost as her own younger brother. She would never be able to concentrate on a political meeting with concerns for both Mario brothers swirling in her thoughts. The meetings, he decided, could wait.

"Alright. I will stay here and continue preparations." He reluctantly agreed. "Just do be sure to return in time. And please try your best to stay careful out there."

Peach, relieved she had convinced him, smiled as she reached out to open the door again. "Of course. I'll be just fine." She assured him. "I'm sure Mario will be overjoyed to see us."

Somewhere out in the distance, far from the castle walls, a mournful howl-like roar rose from the horizon. Unfortunately, none of the castle residents had been able to hear it.