A persistent, metallic thunk disturbed the otherwise quiet snowy slopes of the mountains. Just below the tree line, wedged between two pine trees was an escape pod rocking back and forth. With each hit, the circular door to the craft caved outwards more and more until finally it flew off its hinges and rolled down the hill, clanging against the rocks as it went.

Out stepped a tired and beaten Luigi, not quite sure just where he was at the moment. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but considering his growling stomach it must have been at least half the day, seeing the afternoon sun lowering before him.

Luigi looked at his surroundings and saw he had stopped right before a cliff drop, between two pines nesting just before the overhang. His luck had held out, as he recognized the Mushroom Range behind him, the border between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Kong Jungles. He was just below the tree line, and if he had been knocked by that other ship just a bit farther he would've easily been in Donkey Kong's turf.

That made him remember what happened. When the Galaxy broke up, taking the escape pod back into orbit, trying to contact Daisy and then getting knocked away...was that Bowser? Luigi knew that Bowser was on Mario's tail, probably to get his hands on Peach again. It wouldn't be a surprise if that was the case.

In any event, Luigi looked out towards the western horizon and saw he was indeed far from Peach's castle and it'd take him quite a while to arrive. "I hope she's safe..." Luigi said to himself, worried for Peach's safety. But in truth, he was more worried about his own girl, who he had lost contact with during his descent. He decided to take this one step at a time and first find a way back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

But as he looked out over the western horizon, he saw a dark cloud growing against the sky with purple lightning lashing forth. From it came a gigantic Bowser with a loud roar that nearly made Luigi trip backwards. Clearly his arch-nemesis had survived. But that meant only one thing: Peach was in trouble.

Luigi was never the one to take the initiative. He always let Mario take the lead in these things, but something told him this was urgent. He didn't know where Mario was at that moment, but he had to do his duty.

Inhaling, he ran towards the cliff and high jumped off it, falling through the air. Spying a row of ? Blocks below him hovering in mid air, he maneuvered himself and landed on one. To his luck, one of them contained a feather. Armed with a cape, he ran off the ? blocks and jumped, opening his cape in the air. He easily soared past the rest of the steep mountain sides and the enemies that walked its surface.

Luigi crash landed a few miles from the mountain, not far from a lake. He never got the landing part of flying down and Mario always criticized him for it. Getting up and brushing off his overalls, Luigi ran in the direction of the black thundercloud that shrouded the main Mushroom Kingdom proper. Stomping on Troopas and Goombas, Luigi thought he could make out the tiny form of his brother, a red and blue dot against the demonic giant, pitted in a battle not unlike David and Goliath.

Thinking, he darted to the side and started bumping through a series of ? Blocks to stock up on the inevitable battle. His luck held out again: after a series of coins, he pocketed a star man and continued to run towards the battle in front of him.

As he ran closer towards a forest, he saw several bright red lights appear in the sky, not far from the battle. Luigi realized that they were meteors, but whether they were drawn to Bowser's evil aura or if they were from the orbit of the Destroyer, he did not know. In any event, they streaked through the sky, flashing brightly before impacting the ground far away. The ground rumbled with each impact and Luigi struggled to stay afoot. In front of him, Mario grew to giant size, though was still half a leg shorter than that demon of a Koopa. Bowser's fiery breath had set much of the forest on fire and Luigi struggled to enter it, having to bounce on top of wigglers as they retreated from the burning blaze. After a triple jump, Luigi went airborne again with his cape before something happened.

A large meteor suddenly appeared above the duo before smashing into the ground, sending a large plume of debris and fire into the air. The explosion made Luigi lose his senses, and he fell to the forest floor in a daze. As the plume cleared, he saw the two fighters had disappeared and all was suddenly still.

Luigi feared the worst. He knew that nothing outside of a Star Rod or a wish from Star Haven could survive that impact. He cringed his teeth and sprinted forward.

"MARIO!" he cried, but received no response, save the dying fires that lay behind him. He ran as fast as he could through the now darkened forests, with dark dust clouds blocking out the sun.

He ran for what seemed like ages until the forest suddenly terminated into a large crater, nearly a mile in circumference. Looking below, he saw Mario and Bowser, lying still in the dirt with a distressed Peach between them, sobbing to herself. The dead bodies of Bowser's troops surrounded them all, as if the whole area was a bubble of a fallen battlefield.

At first Luigi could not believe what he saw and thought that perhaps his bro needed a 1-up, and frowned for not remembering to pick one up for him. But before he started he heard the noise of machinery, and on the right lip of the crater he saw metallic vehicles roll up. A door opened and a Koopa with large blue hair stepped out before pausing and seeing the situation for himself. It wasn't until he suddenly bolted down the crater that Luigi did likewise.

Sliding down the dirt, Luigi jumped over various corpses, trying to outrun the Koopaling to the princess. But as he approached, it became apparent their paths were different as Ludwig had darted directly to Bowser.

Ignoring him for a moment, Luigi ran up to the princess and placed his arms on her shoulders. "Peach! Are you okay?"

She did not look up. Her tears continued to fall, his words had fallen onto deaf ears. Luigi dreaded the next moment and almost did not want to look. He already knew what lay there, and again regretted not finding a 1-up before he arrived. A quick glance confirmed his suspicions: it was his brother, bloodied and severely injured. He did not appear to be breathing.

He slowly walked over, dreading the worst. Indeed, Mario was not breathing and it seemed his legs were half buried in the dirt. He was going to need help pulling him out.

"I...know this face..."

Luigi looked behind him: it was Bowser, who had also sustained terrible injuries. His shell had been cracked open with a long vertical split down the center. From what Luigi knew of the Koopa's, that was the equivalent of the death penalty. Ludwig was now looming over him with a sad look.

"You had been struck by a meteor." began Ludwig, "Part of a swarm sent from the Destroyer."

"When did you get so big?" Bowser said, coughing up blood.

"Hmm?" The Koopaling hummed to himself. "We have all grown into ourselves, although I will admit, Lemmy's growth hormonal dysfunction leaves much to be desired."

"We? You were the only one I had." replied Bowser.

"What?" It became apparent to Ludwig that this wasn't simple amnesia.

"You were little before I...took it." he continued. "You might not remember. Those damn magicians put a spell on me and everyone ever since I took the wand. I don't know how long I've played their games, but..." He reached for something. "I feel they have another one to take my place."

"...that would be Junior," said Ludwig, "Your clone. To be honest, I had always wondered why he was created in the first place."

"That's his name!" growled Bowser. "They made me give it to him. That's against the rules and they know it!" Bowser's body shook from too much pain and lay still again.

"Please try to rest." said Ludwig. "I will call the infirm-"

"No!" Bowser interrupted. "Listen to me! They will achieve their ends if I don't say anything about it."

"Who is this 'they?'" inquired Ludwig.

Bowser sighed. "My journal says it all, but here's the short hand. They have ruled our family for generations. Some say since the last shift, I don't know. They are not to be crossed. They have powers far beyond anything I can imagine. I tried to take them down with the Earth Wand back when I was a princeling, and the next thing I know I'm lying here bleeding to death."

Ludwig said nothing.

"Do not take them lightly! They will use us and all of our descendants who can wield the two wands to get what they want. Junior is their next puppet, just like how I was their last. Damn them! Damn them to the abyss!" The king coughed up more blood and more began to run out of his shell.

"I have...one vivid memory." started Ludwig. "Of a place near the Divine Cathedral. You were escorting my person through the underground and we came across-"

"Creatures." said Bowser. "I remember that. They are servants of the...Society..."

"The Society?"

"That's what I call them. I do not...know their real name..." Bowser's body suddenly limped. Ludwig rushed to him, but found he was still breathing. Ludwig gathered himself.

"Your life was not in vain, father." said Ludwig. "It will be due to your eternal staunchness against their agenda that we will prevail. The Kingdom, and the world will finally walk again without their presence."

Bowser nodded and reached for something inside his broken shell. "Take this." Bowser handed Ludwig his own personal wand. "It will be useful for...many things. Kamek...can tell..." Bowser groaned. "Sorry for..." He painfully turned the other way. "I'm sorry..."

Peach stopped crying and looked up.

"Peach..." He reached out his hand. "Forgive...me..."

She looked away at first, but an instinct, a gut feeling made her look back. All of it was too much for her, but she had to say something.

"It's okay. It's all over now." she managed a weak smile.

"Yes...see you...soon." His head fell and his chest stopped moving. There was a long silence and it seemed that something great had ended that to them, that had filled up their whole lives with a sense of purpose. Now taken from them, to see something beyond, they knew not what to say.

Ludwig tilted his head to the sky and watched the dark clouds part, revealing the setting sun against the western horizon. He murmured something to himself before looking back down at the corpse of his father.

Luigi snapped out of his trance and turned back to Mario. He looked around for any sign of help, but they were surrounded by corpses, and there was no one on the edge of the crater to be seen.

"Peach..." Luigi began, but Ludwig abruptly stepped up to them.

"Your highness, I fear you may only hear these words once." said Ludwig. "For all that my father has done to you and your kingdom, I sincerely apologize. It is unfortunate that the circumstances do not allow me the proper ability now, but when I acquire it...I will bring this atrocity to an end. I neither desire your person nor your people."

Peach smiled weakly, but could not find the words to respond and instead nodded in place.

Ludwig turned to Luigi. "It seems our paths are set. You no longer have to worry over such petty acts that consisted of my father's administration. You may now save the one waiting for you, while I must accomplish a destiny that...even I'm unsure is even possible."

"The one waiting..." Luigi murmured, but it soon hit him. "Daisy!"

"Yes." said Ludwig. "As I descended through the troposphere, I had spotted a vessel of-" A large rumble interrupted him, and as both looked around them they saw above a fresh wave of incoming meteors headed towards them.

"It was headed towards her homeland." Ludwig finished, turning and dashing back up towards his strange vehicle. "I wish you luck!" he cried back as he neared the lip of the crater.

Luigi sighed and re-examined the situation around him. Peach had stopped crying and was watching the two speak previous, but was now looking at the incoming meteor swarm with worry. Mario had to be dug up and brought back, but there was no help to get them out. Luigi could try to pull him out, but he knew...

"Princess, hurry! We must get back to the castle." said Luigi.

"Mario..." she sighed, too sorrowful for her loss to make a move.

"We can get him later." reasoned Luigi. "I'll get a 1-up, and then he will be okay."

Just as soon as he finished, a loud noise was heard above them; clearly, luck was against Luigi that day. Another meteor was headed straight towards them, filling all the sky above them red.

Luigi had little time to think. He knew that they wouldn't make it in time to the lip of the crater at this rate. Luigi had to do something, but he was at a loss. Mario would not survive another impact and neither he nor the Princess would. He did not see any warp pipes in the vicinity.

But he suddenly remembered his star man. Perhaps that and his cape would do, but...

The noise snapped him back, and the temperature suddenly rose. Time seemed to slow down. He reached into his pocket and tossed the star man towards Peach. At the very least, she would be the one who would live. Luigi knew he would be seeing his brother very soon, if heaven even existed at all in this world.

Suddenly, Luigi's clothes grew bright and vibrated different colors: Peach had tossed it back to him!

"What? Peach! WHY?" shouted Luigi.

She closed her eyes. "I cannot be saved anymore, Luigi. All of my heroes have fallen, and so has my heart." She looked up at Luigi and smiled. "But you still have someone else waiting for you. Please take care of her..."

"WHY?" he shouted again. Why couldn't he save anybody that mattered to him? The answer never came as the meter hit the ground he stood upon and all became a sea of dirt and ash before darkness fell over him.