Chapter 3: Let's-a try that again.
Time slowed down to a stop, and the world was engulfed into an endless black. Mario's mind was in limbo, not alive, but not dead, and for a while, he felt nothing. His body was floating around as if he was in space, and it seemed like he was doomed to an eternity of drifting endlessly in the dark. That was, until a dark floating hand slowly began moving towards like a thick liquid. Its intentions were unclear, until it reached him. The dark hand grabbed him out of the darkness, with a feeling could only be described as unpleasant. In a matter of seconds, the feeling went away, and his senses started to return to him. A great light filled his body, and time started up again. He could feel his heart beat, and air filled his lungs. He opened his eyes, and the world began again.
At first, everything was blurry, and all sound was muffled. After blinking a couple times, his vision stabilized. Mario was in front of the fruit stand, and not at the loot cellar. He looked down, and there was no cut on his belly, or no blood stains on his pants. The sun was high in the sky, warming the area with a pleasant glow. The wind brushed against his cheeks and filled his nose with the aroma of a medieval city street. At first, he thought he had survived the encounter by some miracle, but the sound of someone calling his name pulled him out of his trance.
"Hey Mario, could you-a show him the coin?" It wasn't the green haired man that said it, nor was its Puck or Satella. Mario looked to his side and saw his brother looking at him, with full eyes and in perfect health.
"Lu-Luigi?" He wanted to believe it was him, but the dark images of his brother's dead body told him otherwise.
When Luigi saw his brothers face, his tone then shifted to one of worry. "Are you ok? You look just-a like King Boo." Mario started shaking as he reached out for him.
"l-l-Luigi,-y-y-yo-." He failed to speak coherently, making his brother even more nervous.
"What's-a wrong?" Luigi tried approaching him, but Mario fell into his brothers' arms crying. Luigi was taken back by his older brother doing something so uncharacteristic of him. Mario however cried heavily, with an overwhelming since of joy filling his sobs.
By some strange, insane miracle, he had died and came back to life. The issue wasn't that coming back to life part, as he had experienced the effects of a one-up mushroom before, but how he did it. A one-up mushroom was an extremely rare power-up, that once it entered the mouth of a person killed by something other than old age, they would be resurrected on the spot. The recipient would have no clue as to what happened while they were dead, or what killed them in the first place, relying on others to fill them in while they were in the afterlife. What Mario just went through was entirely different. He had died and was resurrected to a point earlier that day with perfect memories as to what killed him, while others didn't.
It was like a sadistic version of time travel. Returning by death to a point in the past. Coming to this conclusion, other things popped into his head. Who gave him this power, was it that black hand or was it that strange mushroom bowser ate? If it was, why could he remember the past events, but his brother couldn't? If Luigi is alive, does that mean that the man who was killed in the loot cellar is still alive?
The last one stuck with him, because if the answer to that question was yes, then he had to stop him from being murdered, or at the very least, warn him about Elsa, about the girl that murdered him and his brother, and Satella. He had completely forgotten all about her, but she was most likely a victim as well. Her Insignia, something he didn't even know what looked like, was probably already stolen. Tracking her would be difficult, and there was almost no way to stop her from reaching the cellar because she can talk to lesser spirits. Although, could he even trust her? Puck did let it slip that Satella was not her actual name, and if she lied about that, what else could she be hiding?
No, he couldn't just let somebody die, even if Satella lied to him, it wasn't enough of a reason to not help her. All he would need to do was get to the cellar before Elsa did, warn the man about her, retrieve the stolen insignia, and return it to Satella before anyone was killed. All he needed to do now was figure out how to get to the loot cellar from where he was.
The sound of Luigi speaking his name brought Mario out of his mind, and back into reality, realizing that he was still clinging onto his brothers' shoulder with puffy eyes and a stuffy nose.
"Mario, are you ok?" Luigi was concerned, evident by his voice. He let go of his brother and wiped his eyes before gaining the composure needed to talk.
"I'm-a sorry, something was on-a my mind, and I got-a little carried away." Even though he wasn't a hundred percent honest, Mario knew full well that if he told his brother the truth, it would stress him out to no end.
"It-a must have been something big, because I've never seen you cry like-a that before."
"Heh, It-a was, but I wouldn't-a worry about it" Luigi smiled, and Mario's face lost its red and stuffy look as he calmed down. "Do you want to-a look around some more, I've-a lost-a my appetite." Luigi nodded, and the two set off in a different direction, leaving the green haired merchant very confused.
Despite moving at a quick pace, the two only traveled the distance of about five city blocks before they heard somebody call out in the crowd. "Mommy! Mommy where are you!" A small little girl in a yellow dress who couldn't have been more than eight years old, was looking around the endless crowd, tears forming around her face. Both Mario and Luigi couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"She must have lost-a her mother in-a the crowd" Mario spoke to his brother with a regained since of composure, before he started walking to her. "Hello there," The girl was startled by Mario, who was now kneeling in front of her. "Are you-a lost? I can-a help you if you are." He was trying to sound as friendly as he could, but tears started rolling down her face as all she saw was a strange and scary looking man try and talk to her.
Luigi quickly took action and knocked his brother out of the way. At first, he was thrown off by his brothers' aggressive maneuver, but he quickly realized why his younger brother did so. Luigi always had a knack for cheering up kids, and even by looking at him, the girl seamed to calm down a bit.
"Hello-a there! My name's-a Luigi, would you like to-a play a game with me?" His voice was calming, yet playful, and the girl slowly nodded in response to his question. "Ok, let's-a play the face game. All you have to do is make a more silly face than your opponent." He took his left hand and squeezed his clown like nose with his thumb and pointer finger. "Like-a this." His voice became higher and stuffer, causing the little girl to giggle, before sticking her tongue out at him. Luigi laughed a little, and took his mustache and pulled it far apart, before letting it snap back into place with a springy motion. The girl giggled some more, and in response to him, pulled her ears up, mimicking the ears an elf would have, and danced in a circle.
Mario sat and watched his brother bring a smile to the girls face and couldn't help but feel a bit of pride. They were so caught up in the moment, neither of them saw the red haired man in a white coat staring at them from afar.
Mario and Luigi were traversing the streets of the strange new world once again, but this time, a small child was clinging onto Luigi's hands as they searched for her mother. She asked a lot of questions, like why they had such strange clothes? What the symbol on their hats were, and if she could wear one. Mario agreed by putting his hat on her small head, covering up face when she wasn't holding it up. They somehow made their way back to the stalls where they had bought the apples in a previous life. When they reached that stalls however, the little girl took off, dropping Mario's hat onto the ground.
"Mommy! Daddy!" She let go of Luigi's hand and ran right into a woman's arms, who was standing in front of the fruit shop talking to the green haired man.
"Oh my god, sweetie I've been looking everywhere for you! Where did you go?" The mothers voice was relieved and joyful. When Mario got close enough, he noticed that she was the same woman who he talked to when he first came into this world. She was probably looking for her child at the time, which explained why she didn't want to spend time talking to him.
"I don't know. I was with you, and then I was not with you. I tried looking for you, but I couldn't find you, and I got really scared" She then turned and pointed towards the twin brothers with a smile. "Then the green guy and I played a game, and then we looked for you again, and then we found you!" Luigi blushed when the girl's mother looked at him, and Mario for a moment longer, as if she was trying to remember him from somewhere, before thanking them.
When the father went to thank the two, he quickly recognized them. "Hey, you two tried buying something from my shop earlier."
"Yes-a we were, but-a something was on-a my mind that I wanted to take care of first." Mario spoke first, rubbing the back of his head feeling embarrassed.
"Well I can't thank you two enough for finding my daughter, if there is anything you need help with, just let me know." After hearing this, a lightbulb went off inside of Mario's head.
"Say, we are-a trying to find place called the 'loot cellar', do you happen to know the way to it?" Luigi, not knowing what the loot cellar was, or how Mario came to know about it, was curious as to why his brother was asking him about it, but never spoke up about it.
"The loot cellar, well I don't know the exact location, but I can point you in the right direction." His voice was hesitant, as he most likely knows about how it is a place filled with stolen goods and is curious about Mario's intentions going there.
"That-a would be great!" Mario turned to his brother who looked confused, He would need to come up with a reason for why they had to go there. He did remember that Luigi was hungry, and he would probably be more flexible on a full stomach. "Oh, one-a more thing. Could-a we have a bag of apples, my bro is-a bit hungry."
The man smiled and shot them a thumbs up before picking up a large brown bag. "Way ahead of ya red!"
After the man handed the two the bag of apples, he used a map to trace a path to the slums, where all they would have to do is wonder around a bit before reaching their destination. They said their goodbye's and made their way to the slums. Along the way, Mario told Luigi that he had seen a sign on a bulletin board saying somebody is missing a badge called an insignia, and that they were offering a reward in the form of local cash to anyone who finds and returns it, something they didn't have at the time. He said that he also overheard a group of shady individuals talking about how somebody is going to be selling an insignia for a hefty price at a place called the loot cellar. The reason behind going is that by getting the insignia, they would both be helping someone out, and they would get money in the process. The lie was very fragile, and Luigi would find out about it as soon as they return the stolen item back to Satella, but it was the best thing he could come up with at the time and current Luigi was none the wiser. Once they got to the slums, it didn't take long for Mario to start recognizing land marks, and it was only a matter of time before they were standing in front of the large stone building where they had died in a past life.
"Mario, are you-a sure this is the place?" Luigi spoke with a perfectly reasonable nervousness.
Technically, he hasn't been here before, but if his memory had served him right, then they were exactly where they need to be. "Well, there is-a only one way to find out." Mario walked up to the door and knocked on it the same way he did at Peach's castle. At first nobody came to open the door, but just as he was about to try again, the door swung open, with a very large man behind it.
"What are you trying to do? Play a song on my door." The large man had gravelly voice, and a dark skin tone. He was made of pure muscle, with his unflexed biceps the size of Mario's head. He had no hair on his head, aside from long and white wispy eyebrows, with a description that also applied to his chest hair. All he had on was a black jacket, torn at the edges and sleeveless, and pants held up with a belt made of cloth. There was no mistaking it. He was the living version of the corpse they saw last time they were here.
Mario tried to answer, but the hulking beast grabbed him by the straps in his overalls and yelled into his face. "What's with you, I've never seen you before, so why did you come here!?" The shear force in his voice was enough to blow his cap of into Luigi's trembling hands.
"My, name is-a Mario, and I've-a come to-a do some business. Could you please let-a me down" Mario yelped as dropped to the ground, and the man walked back through the door, but didn't close it behind him.
"Mario, are you ok?" Luigi ran up to his brother and lifted him off of the ground. "Maybe we should-a just leave."
"No, it's-a fine." He dusted himself of and placed his hat back on his head. Mario went into the large building first, and Luigi followed after him. The room was a lot more organized then what it did when they arrived previously, as all the tables and chairs were upright and evenly spaced out on the floor, and everything on the walls was straight. The man must have put up a big fight when fighting Elsa, that or he just trashed the place before he was murdered. Even though there was no immediate danger, Mario couldn't help but feel on edge.
The man was sitting at one of the round tables, with several shot glasses filled up to the brim with a wine like beverage. The two sat across form him, as he downed his first shot in one go.
"Well, you've already interrupted my drinking time, so I hope you have a good reason for coming here."
Mario led the negotiation, as Luigi was never good with these sorts of things. "We've come to-a bargain for an item that is going to-a come into your possession."
"That's a gutsy thing to say, it's a good thing you've got a big one of those." His remark caught him guard, and Mario subconsciously placed his hands on his larger than normal belly. "What makes you so sure that I will have what you are looking for?"
Keeping his cool, Mario responded calmly. "Well I heard that-a blond haired girl with large canine is bringing an insignia here to be sold off."
"Hmm, well I would be lying if I said you were wrong, but what do you plan on doing when she gets here."
"I'm-a going to give her a counter offer." He shuffled around in his pocket before pulling out the large golden coin with a Yoshi inscribed into it. He handed it off to the man, whose eyes shot open after taking a good look at it.
"You're going to use this in exchange? An insignia is nowhere near as valuable as this." The two brothers looked at each other in confusion, as what he was holding was as common as field grass in the Mushroom Kingdom. "This would be come to at least thirty, no forty blessed gold coins." Mario didn't know how much a blessed gold coin is worth, but he felt as though he had been ripped off by the amount the apple man gave him when he exchanged it before.
"Um, excuse me." Luigi was squeamish when speaking, but not to the point that he stuttered. "Exactly how much is-a blessed gold coin?"
The large man looked at him as if he had three heads, but went on speaking as normal. "The lowest form of currency in Lugunica is a copper coin, one hundred of those is equivalent to the value of a silver coin. One hundred silver coins is a gold coin, and a blessed gold coin with worth two gold coins." Suddenly, the money issue they thought they had just disappeared into thin air. "Why do you want this insignia so bad? It's value wouldn't even reach half of what you got."
"Well," Mario thought for a moment before answering. "Because it's-a the right thing to do." The large man's eyes widened, and he almost chocked on one of his shots that he had been downing periodically. "That badge belongs to somebody else, and if it-a means I have to a give up a large sum of money to do the right thing, then I will-a use a hundred blessed gold coins if I-a have to." His voice was determined, and dignified, and came from a place of heart.
"I see." He looked down into his next drink, letting Mario's words sink deep into his mind, until knocking started coming from the door. "It looks like she's finally here." The man sat up from his chair that looked too small for his gigantic body, and moved to the door, sliding the coin back to Mario. Instead of opening it right away, he stood at the edge and said started speaking something cryptic.
"To the giant rats?"
"We give poison." A small female voice responded, most likely the thief they were looking for.
"To the great white whale?"
"We lend a fishing hook."
"To our most honorable great dragon?"
"We say burn in hell!"
"Password accepted." The words that were spoken by the two were foreign to the Mario brothers. Great white whale, the honorable great dragon? Perhaps they were characters in fairytales, or beings of immense strength, but neither of them knew for sure.
The door opened up, and the young blond-haired thief entered the room.
"Hey Rom, sorry I took so long, this girl was really persistent, and it took me a while to shake em." She spoke with the large man whose name was Rom as if they were related, despite looking as different as an elephant and a tooth pick. It was then when she noticed the two other men in the building.
"Who are these two." She said pointing at two brothers.
"They're here to make you a deal, and a mighty good one if I say so myself." Rom turned to face Mario, who was also being stared down by the girl. His stomach felt heavy, and he couldn't help but gulp at the situation at hand. Super Mario was about to make a deal with two criminals.