I don't know how long I was sitting there, trying to re-gather my memory of what happened. The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt. I closed my eyes and laid back, deciding against trying to remember. My head, however, didn't land on the pillow that I was lying on all night; it lay on a bigger, more stuffed pillow. I opened my eyes slightly and I saw Rose looking down at me. She placed her finger to her lips, telling me not to speak. I nodded and I felt gloved hands touch the red spot on my chest. Automatically, my entire body felt a jolt of pain and I cried out. She glared at me, silencing me with her eyes. The pain still rippled through my spine as I groaned in pain. Rose flicked my head, telling me to keep quiet. I didn't do much after that. I cringed every once in a while, but I didn't try to fight with her.
Rose looked extremely different than when I last saw her. She was wearing a light blue doctor's mask with matching scrubs and rubber gloves. She pulled up a small, white case and it had a bright red plus sign on it. She opened the case and, making eye contact with me, pulled out a tiny vial filled with a clear substance. I felt the blood and heat drop from my cheeks and face. A look of sympathy flickered in Rose's eyes, but quickly went away as fast as it had appeared. She handed the small bottle to me.
"Drink this." Rose spoke softly. My entire body froze and my muscles locked, "Oh, dear lord, Luigi I'm not trying to kill you."
I sighed as I sat up and took the vial with a trembling hand. I tried to hold my hand steady, but my fears got in the way. Rolling her eyes, Rose held my hand steady and removed the small cork from the top of it. There was no explosion, no strange smell…so I just prayed that I wasn't going to die. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and drank from the vial.
It was a mix between a bitter and spicy. I swallowed it, and my body instantly started feeling better. Confused, I looked over to Rose and handed back the vial. Our eyes met for a bit, and she resumed her work. Rose placed the vial back in the box. She then closed the box and carefully removed her gloves, her mask and the cloak, folding it all neatly on my bed.
"You're confused," Rose spoke quietly. I nodded, "My father is Toad Town's Dr. X. The hospital is a family-run business, so I have had my share of rises and falls."
"How did you get the equipment, though?" I asked my voice sounding drunk.
"Lie down. You need to rest." Rose said. I obeyed, "The equipment is my older sister's stuff. Her name is Wendy. I'm studying to be a nurse, and one of the things I had to do was run by the Kingdom to pick up her stuff, along with mine. It all seems to work."
"So…you will be leaving soon?"
"Yeah, shame." Rose put the equipment in a box, "Get a lot of rest, drink plenty of water, and check in with a doctor in about a week." I felt my head spin a little and I moaned. Rose held on to my hand for a little bit until the spinning stopped. I nodded, telling her that I was okay.
And with that, Rose picked up her things, and left.
A couple days have gone by since Rose left. My head was feeling much better and the spot on my chest healed, so that's good. Daisy and I have gone on two more dates. And yet…I was not happy. I was miserable and terribly frightened. One word explains it all.
Halloween.
Oh, my, goodness…I cannot explain my hatred for Halloween. Sure you get candy when you go door to door wearing a costume, but that's not it. It's my brother. Mario loves Halloween. He loves all the creepy decorations and things that startle you so bad that it makes you jump out of your skin (well, for me anyways). Mario and I aren't the kind of people who go all out with decorations, though. He's one for the scary horror movies. I just pray for the day to go faster.
I stood up from where I was sitting on the couch, and headed into the kitchen. As I entered, Mario was buried under paperwork and Peach was baking something (a cake, I assume). Mario looked up from the pile of papers.
"Hello." He greeted to me. I nodded, accepting his greeting "Is there anything you need?"
"You said that you needed to talk to me…?" I asked more than stated.
Mario nodded, gesturing to the chair next to him. Careful not to cause the papers to go flying in every direction, I walked slowly to the chair. I rested my hands on the back of it, not really wanting to sit down. I waited a few minutes until Mario was done. He rested the papers on a separate stack and made eye contact with me. Traces of lack of sleep were etched into his tired eyes. He rubbed them with his arm.
"I got a note from the Department of Protection." Mario started.
"That's a bad thing, right?" I asked.
Mario nodded, "The thing is that there are suspicions of a cloaked figure running about the Kingdom. As a result, Peach and Daisy will be staying with us for a while. Not like this is anything new to you." This was typical of a situation like this; anytime there is a trace of danger, both princesses are sent to Mario for protection. Not me, Mario. He was starting to wake up, "Anyways, the Department wants me to track this thing down before Halloween."
"Wait a sec." I interrupted, "am I to protect them while you search for it?"
"No," Mario said with slight hesitation.
That scared me. A stretch of silence passed.
Finally, Mario drew in his breath, "I need you to find it."
"F-f-find it?" I asked attempting to keep my nerves down. It didn't work. Mario nodded, "…and fight it? By myself?"
"MAMA LUIGI!" Luma shouted flying in. Apparently, he took the words as a cue, so he could fly in and hide under my hat. I sighed and rolled my eyes as Mario gave me a concerned look, "Hi!" he chirped at Mario.
"Looks like you won't be alone." Mario said looking at the stack of papers again, "Hey, maybe you might get your Star if you do this."
I took Mario's hat off and rubbed his hair. "Just know that I'm not doing it for the Star." Placing it back on his head, I said goodbye to Peach and walked out the front door.
The outside air was cool and refreshing. The sun was out and there was a gentle breeze. I paused to breath in the fresh air before traveling on. It was one of those days where it is too cold for a t-shirt, but too hot for a jacket. Therefore, Luma stayed under my hat, keeping just enough opening to see the world. As we left the wooded area and the ground became paved, the world soon came to life with little Halloween odds-and-ends. The trees were beginning to lose their leafs, so the ground was bathed in an array of greens, reds and yellows. I was going on towards the outdoor area when I saw the shadow. We made eyes contact (well, I think we did, it was facing my direction) and it darted off. I followed, first at a gentle walk. Eventually, we ended up playing a game of cat and mouse. It felt strange, me being the cat and the other being the mouse.
I have no idea how long I had been in pursuit of the cloaked person, but eventually I got to a fork in the road, one leading outside of the kingdom, the other into the heart of the city. I stopped, considering which way I should go. Luma popped out and zoomed off to one of the pathways, taking my hat along with him. I decided to wait. A couple minutes later, Luma came back, pointing in the direction he went; the outskirts of the kingdom. I nodded and, now with Luma securely back in my hat, sprinted that direction.
It didn't take too long to find the cloak. It stuck out horribly. It was on top of a hill, overlooking the lake. It turned to face me. It made that horrible laugh as it tore off the cloak.
"I have chortles!" the little green guy cheered out in a wicked delight. I felt the fear increase within me, but I didn't allow my face to show it, "Finally, I have the little green 'stache all by his lonesome. He has no one to protect him; poor little baby. I can easily steal what little candy he possesses."
"What are you doing here, Fawful?" I asked trying to not let my fear quiver my voice.
He smiled that awful giant smile of his. "The baby is growing and will soon be born. The mother is fertile." I raised an eyebrow, confused. "The birth will be wonderful; the birth of a new villain, taking the form of a pure heart." With that, he disappeared within the shadows. Luma flew out of my hat, chasing Fawful for a few yards. He came back, shrugging and hiding back in my hat.
"Did you rid of him?" I jumped a mile and saw my brother behind me. He snickered at me, chuckling softly. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"I think I did." I responded as Luma flew out and greeted Mario, "He talked for a minute or two and disappeared. I didn't cry or show fear, so that might have scared him off."
Mario closed his eyes and shook his head, deep in thought. "I don't think that is it. I'm sure he is planning something big, but the DoP and I have no idea what it is, though." He opened his eyes and looked at me. "What did he say?"
His eyes were a bit foggy. "…Mario? Are you alright?" he nodded, "I'm not convinced. We should head on home."
Man, oh man I was relieved. I didn't want to say anything that Fawful had told me. Thankfully, as well, Mario wasn't in too bad of condition. You see, when people are popular and get large sums of money; they tend to do stupid things. I, being the overprotective brother, only give Mario a small part of it, keeping the rest in a bank account for emergencies. Some of the stupid things that happen to rich people do are what I call "gateways". The basics are you typical cigarettes and beer. From there, they can lead to more dangerous things. That is the sole purpose of why I store the money in a different place other than in Mario's pockets. I'm okay with him drinking only because he is reasonable with it. He's not the kind who will order a bottle and drink the entire thing in one sitting. For one, he drinks wine (I know that's a little worse alcohol wise, he knows, too) and never drinks over two glasses. He only drinks socially, which is an added bonus.
"Did you decide to skip the paperwork and go to a party?" I asked.
He looked at me, confused, "No. I only had half a glass, thank you." His speech wasn't heavily slurred, so I took it as true. "No use getting drunk when doing documents." I waited a little bit, "I only had it because I was stressing out. Peach offered it to me."
"Don't try to pin this on her." I cautioned, "You know just as well as I do that Peach never drinks."
Mario shook his head, "No, she drinks just as much as you do."
"Which is close to never," I answered calmly, knowing that Mario might strike, "Christmas, Thanksgiving and The Royal Ball. Even at those, I only take a little."
Eventually, we got back to the house. Mario resumed his work, and I took up a broom and swept a bit. What did he mean? Deciding that the floor was presentable, I moved on to straightening up the things on the table. Yet, no matter what I did to distract myself, Fawful's words haunted my mind. I sat down, my head hurting. I placed my hands on my head and closed my eyes, trying to get a headache to leave that had suddenly decided to occur. Once I closed my eyes, though, that horrible, giant smile appeared like it was ingrained in my brain. I opened my eyes in a panic, and Daisy was kneeling down, looking up at me, apparently concerned. I smiled shyly, to not worry her and to reassure her (and myself) that I was okay.
She wasn't convinced.
"What's the matter?" she asked as she sat down next to me.
"I'm okay, really." I responded making eye contact with her. That was the truth. Every time I see her smile, it makes me feel at home; it feels right to me. "No need to worry."
I took her hand and just held it, "I don't believe you." She responded not amused or distracted by my gentle touch, "Even big heroes like your brother have to confess what is the bothering them."
"He does it through sexual interactions."
"Don't try to get off topic." She was suddenly serious. "Luigi, we've haven't talked to each other since The Star Festival. Can't you tell me what's on your mind?" I didn't know what to say. "Is it because…you don't have a Star yet?"
"Partly." I responded after a moment.
Daisy nodded, and slipped her hand in mine. "I'm just worried about you. Is it Rose?"
"No," I was taken aback, "Daisy, do you honestly think that I would be cheating on the prettiest girl in all of Sarasaland with someone from a town that is almost gone?" Daisy said nothing, "Sure, Rose is a nice girl and all, and I have known her for as long as I have known you. But...Rose doesn't make me feel..."
"What?" Daisy whispered quietly.
"I just realized something." I said holding both her hands, "I've been lying to myself." Daisy looked confused and concerned. "I have been telling myself that there was no way that I would ever get a Star, or anything that Mario has. I just realized that...I have a lot more than he does. I have you; and that is better than any Star in the sky."
"Hate to ruin this romantic moment." Mario said. Suddenly, Luma flew into the room crying. He flew into my arms, burrowing deep into the crook of my arm. I looked up at Mario, confused. "Bowser's back."
"MAMA!" Luma cried in fear. I stood up, kissed Daisy on the forehead, and nodded to Mario, telling him I was ready. We started to head for the door. "No! Don't go, Mama!"
"Luma." I said holding him out to Daisy; "Can you protect her while I am gone?" he looked at me like I was insane, but nodded. "Be a good little guy." I handed Luma to Daisy. I turned, and sprinted out the door. Mario and I were on a dead sprint, adrenaline pumping through us.
