Chapter Four: No Matter What

Popple rounded the curve in the road. Dried mud clung to the cuffs of his pants and flaked away with each stride like the leaves from the trees above. A single orb of lantern light illuminated the underside of the decaying branches, causing the shadows to swing like pendulums as the lantern rocked in Popple's outstretched hand.

Popple turned and saw nobody. "Shake a leg, will ya?" he barked.

He heard Luigi gasping before he saw him, laboring around the turn as though his own body were an intolerable burden. "Sorry," he said between gasps, not for the first time that day.

Popple snorted as Luigi struggled up to him. The rim of his cloak had taken on layers of muck that splattered up its train like paint over a smock. If Luigi hadn't been walking since dawn, the extra weight of the soil would have been negligible, but now it was as if he had a weight pulling back against his throat like a dog collar.

"Pathetic." Popple turned and resumed his stroll. Luigi gazed wearily as the lantern light danced away from him yet again. "I hope your brother ain't as slow as you. Otherwise, he'd definitely be monster chow by now, see?"

"Please, don't say that," said Luigi anxiously. He clutched his ribcage, cringing. There was a definite tearing sensation there, seemingly lying in the gaps between his bones.

"Boo! Boo, I say!" Popple snapped. "I've been takin' care of you all day, so I'll say what I want to, see?"

Luigi was in too much agony to say anything, but he thought Popple was being slightly unfair. Popple had received the promised seven-thousand coins with grasping fingers but had been dismayed when it came time for the pair to stop for food and water and he'd discovered that Luigi had brought no other money. Luigi had been caught off guard by Popple's angry and onlooker-attracting tirades in which the words "swindler" and "free-loader" were frequently uttered. After all, Popple had only said to bring the seven-thousand, and that was precisely what Luigi had done. Yet, Popple seemed to be suffering from some grand injustice as he dipped his hand into the bag of seven-thousand to pay for meals for the both of them. He had frequently reminded Luigi, as they were sitting down to plates that seemed lopsided in Popple's favor, and as they were leaving, and two hours later on the road alone, that Luigi owed Popple for forcing him to pay out of his own pocket. This didn't sound right to Luigi. He had given Popple the money, so wasn't he technically paying for the food? Still, Luigi had kept his peace. After begging as he had, he knew better than to criticize his guide.

And, it was true that Popple had been helpful. The many roads through the forest comprised a maze marked and forks by unhelpful signs with most of the pain eroded by wind, rain, and time. Often had Luigi found himself staring at the signposts at a loss while Popple was already taking several confident steps toward the road on the left or right or somewhat to the left of two o'clock. Poppled bragged to Luigi, in between berating him for his slowness and clumsiness and giving him "friendly reminders" of what he would owe him afterward, that he knew the forest like the back of his hand. And, it seemed to Luigi to be true.

Popple had unwittingly given him a surge of hope at the last inn they stopped when he commented, "This is where I first saw your brother." His heart felt even lighter when the gently smiling innkeeper confirmed it. They were on the right track. Luigi thought about warning the innkeeper that Popple was a thief, but that was a conversation that could wait. Mario came first.

That had been an hour ago, and now, even as Luigi trudged through the clay-like road, he felt more asleep than awake. A turnkey only has so many spins before it reaches the end and gradually winds to a stop. The notes of the tinkling song become discordant as the space between each stretches, the painted figures slow by rapid degrees, their charming energy seeping away before your eyes as the gears that give them life creak to a halt. Luigi had always been disheartened at the sight of one of his works straining against inactivity in this way. Now, he felt that he himself was the figure in the box, struggling to keep moving even as the gears compelling him froze. He could feel his body groaning in protest against its own limitations.

His eyes were down on the road ahead of him. It was more solid now, but it still retained the rainwater that had soaked into like a sponge. His shoes lifted with a soft sucking sound with each step. The mud certainly looked soft. It reminded him of soft dough, kneaded against floury palms. Luigi contemplated falling down into it, feeling himself sink into it as though it were goose down. Surely only a minute wouldn't hurt.

"Hey! Greenie! Over here!"

Luigi lifted his eyes and saw the lantern, farther ahead that he had thought, and a thin, striped arm flashing in and out of the orb of light.

"Move it! Come and have a looksee, see?"

Luigi made his way over to Popple as quickly as he could manage. He looked down as Popple cast the lantern over a series of pits and valleys carved into the mud.

Luigi's fatigue was no longer important. He moved his eyes over the marks in the road eagerly. Cutting diagonally across the road were a series of long trenches made by thick boots dragging themselves through the mud before stopping and lifting to be set down and dragged again. Luigi placed his own shoe into the hollow. He felt only a slight resistance on either side of his boot. His own feet could have made those channels.

"He was here," Luigi sighed.

"Looks like it," said Popple. He followed the tracks up the road to a place where the mud had been stirred violently. "Must've landed here," he said, "then made his way this way to get out of the rain."

Luigi watched Popple circling over the splattered earth like a dog. Landed here. Luigi imagined Mrio tumbling out of the carriage into the muck. He imagined splashing and floundering as the carriage sped away, leaving him deserted. The man who had done that to Mario was here in front of him, speaking of such things without a trace of guilt.

But, this wasn't the time for anger. Right now it was as unimportant as the rest of Luigi's aches and pains.

Popple crossed back in front of Luigi, following the cannals dug in the road. He came to the edge of the trees.

"No doubt about it," said Popple. "He definitely went in there."

Luigi joined Popple to peer into the trees. The tracks curved and slipped into the thicket, out of sight. The hollow into which they vanished was completely black. Popple's lantern only revealed a few details: a thick root smeared with mud, a broken twig dangling by a single fiber from a bush, the first foot or so of a carpet strewn with damp leaves. These things retreated quickly from sight and dissolved into the black.

Something moved in the thicket. He heard a furtive crunch of leaves, the rustle of a branch settling back into place, then nothing. Just a quick dart through a leafy sea then nothing. Luigi pulled his cloak closer to his shoulders, shuddering.

Popple peered a moment more, then turned away. "Well," he said, "See ya!"

"Wait!" Luigi shouted as Popple set off down the road. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the inn!" said Popple. "You wanted me to take you to where I saw him, and that's what I did!"

"No, you can't!" Luigi grabbed Popple's arm, which Popple quickly yanked away with an offended look. "The deal was you help me find Mario!"

"You expect me to go in there? Boo! Boo, I say! You know how I stayed in business long enough to become the Legendary Shadow Thief? Here's how: I don't do stupid things like wandering into a forest crawling with monsters with a dead weight at my heels!"

Luigi was unaware that Popple held any such title, and he also smarted at the barb, but he didn't comment on either. What he said instead was: "I can't go in there alone, and we're not leaving without Mario! I told you I'd pay you the rest when we find him! If I don't come back, then you can't get paid!"

Popple gnashed his teeth in frustration. Annoyed as he was, he couldn't deny Luigi's logic.

"Look you," he said, "I'll have a hard enough time watching my own back without worrying about babysitting you, see? Do you even have a weapon?"

"I have this." Luigi reached into his cloak and drew out a small hammer, one that he'd used many times to hammer into boards still fragrant with sawdust.

"A hammer," said Popply flatly. Luigi blushed.

"Sorry, we don't really have guns or anything," he said sheepishly. "It seemed like the best choice."

Popple sighed and shook his head. "Well, it's better than nothing, I guess. Alright, have it your way, Greenie. We'll go in. But!" Popple jabbed a finger in Luigi's face. "This ain't a stroll in the park we're talking about, see? If I decide you're a liability, I'm leaving you behind! I ain't sticking my neck out for a drip like you! If you can't keep up, you're nothing but meat, capisce?"

"Um, it's capisci."

"What's that?"

"You said it wrong. It's pronounced capisci."

Luigi could actually hear Popple's teeth grinding. "Arrrgh! Who cares? You want to head into the forest or don't you?"

"I do. I'm sorry!"

Popple turned and headed into the thicket, grumbling. Luigi followed, ducking his head under the low-hanging branches.

The darkness within the forest was total. Above the road, there had at least been a stream of starry sky flowing above their heads, but here the branches congealed beneath the sky, sealing them within a black canopy. Without the stars, without the road, and without even his own eyes, Luigi's only means of navigation was to follow the glow of lantern over the roots and around the trunks and over all the dips and uneven terrain of the forest floor. But, even following was proving to be difficult as Luigi's legs seemed determined to snag and catch on every single thing that was even remotely near him. Fronds brushed back the fabric of his pants, sharp branches poked at his arms and cheeks, and he was constantly knocking his forehead into branches that Popple had been able to pass under easily.

At the very least, Popple now had to pick his way carefully over the forest floor and thus was moving at a much more reasonable pace.

Popple moved his lantern over a large branch that had been snapped in half by the heel of a boot.

"Well," he said, "the good news is your brother's easy to track. Bad news is the whole forest probably heard him, what with him crashing around like an elephant-"

Just then, there was a loud crash. Popple jumped and turned to see Luigi lying face down on the forest floor. His right foot was curled awkwardly around a tree root that arced above the soil. Luigi lifted his face.

"Again?" Popple asked.

"Sorry," said Luigi again. He stood, brushing the dirt from his mustache.

"Sheesh," said Popple, as he turned back. "I've run into some sad sacks in my time, but you're a whole new level of hopeless. I wish it had been you I'd run into at the inn instead of your crazy brother."

Luigi winced and kept following with his head down.

However, Luigi had only taken a few steps when he heard a soft rustle coming from below. Luigi's own feet were shuffling through the wet leaves, but it wasn't that. Luigi stopped. The feet firmly pressed the leaves into the soil, but the rustle continued, quiet as a whisper.

"Hey, I hear something," said Luigi.

Popple snorted without stopping. "If we start stopping every time you hear something, it's gonna be a long night."

"No, really, what is that?"

Popple heaved up a long-suffering sigh and turned around. "It's probably just a- YIKE!"

Luigi stared, shocked at Popple's gaping expression. Popple's head was slowly tilting upward as though being pulled by a string until he was staring at a spot well over Luigi's head. Before Luigi could process this properly. He felt something warm and thick splash onto his left ear. He slapped his hand to the spot, and his glove gave away sticky. He looked up.

Grinning down at him and salivating between its white, gleaming teeth was a huge Piranha Plant, the thick vine supporting its bulbous coiling upward like a serpent.

Luigi was too terrified even to scream. He simply stared, his eyes riveted to that dripping, rumbling mouth as it flash Luigi what was unmistakably a grin and lunged.

Luigi's arm was nearly yanked out of its socket as something violently jerked him back by his elbow. The Piranha Plant's teeth closed around a massive mouthful of dirt and leaves, which dribbled out in a foul cascade as it snarled irritably. Luigi looked back and saw Popple tugging on his arm.

"Don't just stand there!" he was shouting. "Move it!"

Popple was suddenly whipped upward with a shriek. In the next instance, Luigi found that he, too, was airborne. He felt the forest spinning around him as his leg was swept out from beneath him, and his cloak was suddenly flapping against the back of his head. He looked around for Popple and saw that he too was hanging upside down by one ankle. Luigi could see the curve of the thick vine holding Popple aloft and felt the bite of a similar vine in his own ankle.

His hat fluttered to the earth below as he screamed.

"No! No, no, no!" he jabbered. There was nothing in his head more coherent than that. That single, protesting shriek swelled and filled his whole soul.

The terrain above his head teemed. More Piranha Plants were rustling in the brush as they stretched upwards toward the dangling prey. Their lips parted, and their jaws creaked open to reveal glowing embers popping in the backs of their throats. Luigi and Popple were surrounded by the glow of many torches flaring amongst the trees like infernal ornaments.

Luigi had stopped screaming and was now whimpering, but the lantern was still swinging from the end of Popple's flailing arm. Popple craned his neck to see the closest head leering at them as it stretched up from the forest floor. Popple waited until the red dome was right beneath them before he threw the lantern with all his might.

The glass case burst, and a stream of oil flowed through the gaps and onto the Piranha Plant's head. The tiny flame tumbled out after, and soon the Plant was alight. Its entire shrieked and writhed as Popple and Luigi tumbled back to the ground.

Luigi snatched his cap as he scrambled to his feet. "Nice one!" he said.

Popple brushed the dirt from his clothes. "These Piranha Plants are only fireproof on the inside, see? The outside burns just like any other plant." He folded his arms and grinned smugly. "Pretty stupid, see? But what else can you expect from a plant?"

Suddenly, a fireball landed on Popple's beret. It bloomed rapidly into a crown of flame. Popple shrieked, whipped the hat off, and began beating it violently against the ground.

"Stupid! Lousy! Weed!" he whined with each whack.

Luckily, the flare of the Piranha Plants created enough light for Luigi to see the huge set of jaws barreling toward them. "Move!" he cried.

He leapt to the side. Popple staggered back as the trunk of the Piranha Plant flowed between them. The chin of the Plant slid along the ground as the trunk curved toward Luigi. Its lips rippled as it snarled.

Luigi suddenly remembered the hammer and pulled it out of his belt. The Piranha Plant was certainly a large target. Luigi swung frantically, whacking the monster's head from every angle. The head of hammer bounced after every impact with a strange, spongey feel. The Plant's head barely moved with each blow, and it certainly didn't slow down.

"Popple!" Luigi cried. "Help me!"

Popple didn't appear in any hurry to come to the rescue. He was backing away from the trunk that separated Luigi and himself with a calculating expression.

Popple felt a hot wind blowing against the back of his head. He darted away in time to avoid being swallowed whole but not quickly enough to escape the jaws closing around his ankle. The Piranha Plant tossed him into the air with a flick of its head. Luigi had seen dogs pull moves like that.

"Popple!" Luigi called.

Luigi couldn't bear to watch but felt he shouldn't look away as Popple plummeted, flailing, toward the Piranha Plant's waiting jaws. Popple's limbs flew out wildly in every direction before his hand caught a particularly long tooth protruding from the Plant's top lip. The Plant snapped its jaws shut an instant after Popple managed to heft himself out of its mouth and begin his tumble down the back of its trunk.

Luigi's relief was short lived as he caught once last glimpse of Popple's back, lit in orange as it retreated into the tree cover.

"Wait!" Luigi pleaded. "Don't leave me here!"

Popple was already out of sight, but he heard his voice sounding from the darkness. "You're on your own, Greenie!"

The slithering Piranha Plant licked its lips as it crawled toward Luigi. That tongue looked bigger than Luigi's torso. Luigi shuddered as he brandished the hammer in front of himself, not daring to look away.

Something heavy slammed into Luigi's stomach. No, not heavy, something strong. Luigi gasped as a thick vine wrapped around his midsection and yanked him back. He fell onto his back, and as the vine dragged him across the floor, the head of another Piranha Plant came into his field of view. Luigi grabbed the vine encircling his stomach and shoved down against with all his strength in the vague hope of sliding it off him, but it embedded itself into his belly mercilessly. He gasped. With every breath, he could pull less and less air into his lungs.

Luigi felt the warmth of a campfire wash over him. He looked and saw the unmistakable glow building in the mouth of the Piranha Plant at his feet. The head above was creeping closer, the head below was ready to roast him. Death was closing in on both sides.

Luigi's next actions came to him in a flash that was too quick to even be called thought. It was the last surge from a brain desperate to save itself. Luigi took the hammer in his head and quickly spun it so he was clutching the head and not the handle. With a burst of effort, he strained against his bounds just far enough to shove the handle down the back of the lower Plant's throat.

The Plant choked and coughed in surprise and outrage as the handle was set alight. Luigi heaved the hammer back out of its mouth, feeling its teeth grind against the wood, and, without looking, jabbed it into the air just behind his head. He felt the end of the handle collide with something large and spongey as a monstrous wail filled his ears. The vine around his stomach spasmed and dropped, flicking around his legs. Luigi kicked himself free and stood, brandishing his new torch with shaking hands.

The Piranha Plants surrounding him shrank back with meek trills. Luigi swung the end of the torch slowly outward, pointing it at each flower in turn. The plants undulated in the air. Luigi could hear them, feel them creeping closer when they were in darkness, but as soon as the orange light of his torch fell over them, they drooped, cowed.

Luigi slowly backed out of the clearing, keeping the flame at arm's length. Each time he heard a Plant stretching after him, he waved the light forward, and the head fell back. They crooned plaintively as edges of the light slipped over their heads, and Luigi had the bizarre sense that they were calling for him to return as his circle of light left them behind.

Luigi stopped, breathing hard. The only slithering sounds he heard emerged from the darkness ahead of him. The forest surrounding him on all sides was silent.

Luigi abruptly turned and ran deeper into the forest. The Piranha Plants, the road, and Popple were all to his back as he scrambled over the uneven ground.

Of course, he didn't get far before he plowed right through a shrub that reached higher than his waist. The tangle of branches and poking leaves snagged the momentum of his lower half, sending him sprawling to the ground. He felt the ground ram and scrape against the skin of his forearms. The torch rolled to his side and went out.

Luigi lay there, propped up on his arms, the cold seeping into the fabric of his clothes. Luigi hadn't needed Popple to tell him he was hopeless. He already knew. He was alone in the dark. Popple, for all he'd been worth, was gone. He'd barely survived the Piranha Plants. And even if they weren't in the way, he'd never be able to find his way back, and he'd never be able to find his way forward. He would wander through this forest in circle for the rest of his life, so close to his brother and yet so far.

Luigi suppressed the instinct to call out for his brother. Even now, some childish part of him was still expecting Mario to come riding out of nowhere and save him, just as he had done when they were boys. This had been his one chance to pay Mario back for all he'd done. And he'd messed it up.

Luigi felt his eyes sting. He propped himself up to wipe his eyes, and as he did, he saw a stone wall through the trees ahead of him.

Luigi stared. His eyes were still adjusting to the dark, but he definitely saw the gleam of gray stone behind the black of the trees. The wall shone with some hidden starlight. Luigi pushed himself to his feet and hurried forward.

Luigi pressed his fingers to the grainy stone. It was real. The wall encircled the open sky, and Luigi gazed gratefully at the stars that peeked over the rim. The path at the edge of the trees gleamed in their silver light. Luigi looked and saw the unmistakable shape of footprints, left to dry in the days that had passed. His heart pounding, Luigi pressed his foot into one of the prints. It was a perfect match.

Luigi hurried beside the tracks, not daring to disturb them anymore. His brother had been circling this wall. His brother had stayed in the view of the sky as he walked along it to…

A gate.

And behind that gate?

Luigi looked and felt an ice cold fear seize him. No! No, it couldn't be!

It could. Luigi gaped at the castle across the courtyard and realized his own imagination had failed him. Many times had he tossed and turned with nightmares about the castle in the forest and the beast contained within, but every one of those night terrors utterly paled in comparison to the real thing. Never had Luigi seen such a twisted structure. It seemed to be covered not in statues and spires but in growths and distorted limbs. The castle itself was a monster, just as surely as the creature that dwelled within.

Luigi felt a sensation like a cold blade plunging into his chest and stomach. He sucked in deep ragged breaths, willing himself not to vomit. Even as cold venom seeped through his veins, he felt his brain burning. His thoughts raced. Mario was in there. Mario was already dead. The beast could seem him. It was watching him from the windows. Any moment he'd be dead, too.

Stop that, Luigi told himself. Stop that right now. You don't get to do that now. Panicking was all well and good when it was Luigi himself in danger. But now that Mario's life was at stake, he no longer had that luxury. He concentrated on breathing in and out, in and out, letting the shudders pass through him. The beast had not killed him. Nothing had killed him. If he were still alive, then Mario might still be alive.

Luigi looked in again at the castle. Waluigi's story raced through his mind. Was there any hope at all? All the men the king had sent to slay the beast had perished. But, Luigi wasn't here to slay anything. He was only here for his brother.

Would that be enough?

It would have to be.

It wasn't long before Luigi found the tree. He hoisted himself up.

They heard him before they saw him, a lone voice echoing through the castle vaults. "Hello? Mario? Are you in here?"

Luigi didn't see them as he stepped into their view. He didn't know what to look for. "Look," whispered the first, "there he is."

"Not another one," moaned the second. "I can't watch this again."

"Say, he looks a lot like the one in the tower," said the third.

Luigi turned. "Is someone there?" he called.

Luigi approached the end table standing against the wall. It was covered in a thin layer of dust, decorated here and there by circles and rings of polished surface. Sitting on the table was a candle in a winged candleholder and a pink enamel pitcher. A footstool had been pushed underneath the table.

Luigi looked around nervously. He could have sworn he heard voices coming from this direction, but there was no one in sight. Perhaps the sound had echoed from somewhere else?

Luigi moved away. If he had returned to this room even a moment later, he would have seen that the candle was now gone.

Luigi hadn't had the faintest idea of where to start looking, so he head veered to the left of the giant staircase. He second-guessed every single turn he made, and he walked through every door convinced he had chosen the wrong one. He could trek all over this castle for days and still not see all of it. He knew he couldn't expect Mario to be lurking behind any random door or behind any ornate chair, but the Beast could. He knew each step he took could be his last.

He stepped back into the hall and craned his eyes upward toward the enormous vaulted ceiling. Strange, macabre creatures curled around every corner even high above him, glaring down at him with glittering stone eyes. With the high, cold walls all around him and the monsters writhing above him, Luigi felt as though he were underwater, not inside a building. He remembered the last castle he'd sold, how the girl with the fishtail swam behind the castle walls amidst the reach plants and fluttering fish. That was him, now. Trapped in a place where the cold filled his mouth and throat.

He was coming up to another door on his right, the panels crisscrossed with carved, floral patterns. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up just as they had with every door he'd opened as he pushed the heavy door inward.

"Mario?" he called.

A sound touched his ear, and his entire frame jolted. It took him a moment to realize that the sound wasn't fangs tearing into his neck, as he'd been sure it was, but something soft falling to the floor. It had landed behind him, in the hallway. Luigi pulled his head out of the doorway and turned back to look.

Mario's cap was lying on the floor.

Luigi ran to where the cap lay and seized it. He kneaded it between his fingers, feeling the familiar fabric. There was no mistaking that feel, that shape, that color. There was also no mistaking the fact that it hadn't been here a second ago.

Luigi clutched the hat to his chest and looked up. He was kneeling in the corner where the hallway veered sharply to the left. There, just a little further down, he saw a door creak open. A small warm light was shining from within the darkened room.

"Hello?" Luigi called. "Who's there?"

The light moved away.

"Wait!" Luigi pulled himself up and raced to the open door. "Did you leave this here? Do you know where my brother is?"

He seized the door handle and yanked himself inside. He saw the edge of the light hovering through the door on the opposite side of the room.

"Please! Don't go!" Luigi cried. But the light was moving out of sight.

Luigi sprinted into the next room, looking around wildly for the one who held the light. He was surprised to see a section of the wall behind a sofa swing outward on hidden hinge. The light was fading behind it.

Luigi pushed the sofa aside and squeezed himself behind the panel. He found himself in a narrow tunnel. The light was already at the other side, pulling around the corner.

Luigi ran after it. In this closed space, he could see the flickering of the light against the wooden walls, and he could smell the wax melting. It didn't occur to him wonder why he didn't hear a single footstep as his guide moved through the castle. The hat clutched in his hands blocked out all rational thought.

Luigi emerged from behind another panel in a different wall. He saw the light moving up the narrow staircase through the doorway on the other side.

The staircase spiraled up through the white, stone tower, and Luigi felt the same tear opening along his ribs as he struggled to keep up with the candle flame. As always, the flame and its bearer were always just around the next corner. Luigi had had dreams like this, where he ran toward a thing that never got any closer. Perhaps it was only his own exhaustion that gave rise to the hope that he would simply wake up in his own home and turn his head to see Mario sleeping in the bed across from his.

Instead, he arrived at a landing.

He looked around, as his head emerged step by step over the floor. He was in a dark and dismal chamber. He had only caught brief glances of the cells behind the inspector's desk back in the village, but that was all the reference he needed to know he was in a dungeon. Heavy steel doors stood before gaping caverns lined with iron-gray stone. The only light that illuminated the dripping walls was a single candle sitting on a sparse wooden table.

"Where'd they go?" Out of breath as he was, the words were no more than a whisper.

But then: "Luigi?"

Words are inadequate to describe the joy, the relief, the light that washed over Luigi at the sound of that voice. "Mario!" he cried.

The nearest cell door stood at such an angle that Luigi couldn't see the man inside it, but now, as he ran to the door, he saw a plump, mustached face appear at the foot of the bars.

Luigi dropped to his knees and grasped the hand that encircled the bars.

"Mario! You're here! You're alive!" Luigi's eyes were glossy. The two pairs of hands fluttered frantically over the bars, desperate to touch one another.

"What do you think you're doing here, Luigi? How did you find me?" There was no reprimand in Mario's tone. Only happiness and amazement. He looked as though Luigi had suddenly revealed some hidden talent, some secret expertise that he had hitherto neglected to tell Mario about.

"Never mind that!" said Luigi. "We need to get you out of there!"

He stood, but Mario did not stand with him. Luigi looked down and saw a huge, dark stain spread over Mario's right pant leg.

"Mario! You're hurt!"

Mario grimaced. "I'll live," he said, "but we need to hurry. Grab the key!"

"Where is it?"

"It has to be here somewhere. Look around!"

Luigi hurried to the table and grabbed the winged candle holder. He hastily cast the light around the room. The candle flame fell over a rusted key hanging from a nail on the wall.

"I see it!" Luigi called.

"Good! Hurry, Luigi!"

Luigi quickly set the candle down and pushed a rickety wooden chair over to the wall. He jumped onto it and reached up to grab the key.

He could feel the rust scraping onto his gloved fingertips as something seized his outstretched arm in a rough, vicelike grip. He felt sharp talons piercing the flesh on his arms as he was dragged off the chair and thrown violently to the ground. The key slipped through his fingers and clattered to the stone floor. Luigi could hear Mario crying out in anger and alarm as a scaled hand reached out and plucked the key off the floor.

Luigi pulled himself backwards, his eyes locked on the shadow moving in the corner of the dungeon. "It's you," he whispered hoarsely.

The Beast turned the key in its hand, as if considering it.

"How did you get up here?" it asked.

The voice was low and hollow. It was also a woman's voice. Luigi had not been expecting that. The beast had declared itself king, Waluigi had said. Of all the details to get wrong…

"Answer me," she whispered.

Luigi shrank back. In the lurid candlelight, he could see little except an outline of orange scales and blue, glinting eyes.

"I… I found my way here," Luigi stammered, "on my own."

The Beast's eyes narrowed. She moved closer. Luigi recoiled. He found himself at the edge of Mario's cell. Mario reached a hand out to grasp Luigi's shoulder. The warmth anchored him.

"I know you're lying," she said. "Is there someone you're trying to protect."

Mario noticed the way the Beast's eyes flicked briefly toward the candle sitting on the table, but Luigi did not. He only swallowed.

"I don't want any trouble," he said. "I only came to find my brother."

"Your brother belongs to me," the Beast said coldly. "There is nothing for you here."

"Please! You have to let him go! He needs a doctor! Can't you see he's hurt?"

"That's his own fault!" the Beast snarled. "He should consider himself lucky he's only a prisoner and not a corpse!"

Luigi shivered. The Beast regarded the trembling man at her feet with contempt.

"Your precious brother came here to try and kill me," she said. "Did you know that?"

Luigi stared back at her, stunned. "For the last time, that's not true!" Mario yelled.

"You expect me to believe that?" the Beast roared. "So many men have come here over the years, fancying themselves to be glorious heroes if they can only bring back my head. Your brother is no different from any of those other idiots."

"You're wrong!"

The words had come out louder, perhaps, than Luigi would have liked. The Beast blinked in surprise, shocked that this cowering, mud-splattered man would dare raise his voice to her.

"Wrong, am I?" she whispered.

Luigi heard the danger in her voice, and his gaze lowered to the floor. Still, he spoke. "Mario isn't like that. He's a merchant, that's all. He only came to your castle because his horse was stolen. He just wanted shelter from the rain! He means you no harm."

"I'd like to do her a little harm," Mario muttered.

"Mario, please! You're not helping!" Luigi shouted.

Luigi turned back to the Beast. "I know people have hurt you in the past," he said, "but I swear on my life Mario is innocent!"

The Beast gazed down at Luigi. Her face was inscrutable in the low light.

"Be that as it may," she said, "he trespassed in my home. He attacked and wounded me. These are serious crimes. Someone has to take the punishment."

The Beast turned, as if that settled the matter. Luigi saw her serpentine form coiling as she began to move away.

"Wait!"

A single eye gleamed. "What?" she asked.

Luigi had called without knowing what he'd say next. All he'd known was that his brother's only chance for freedom was leaving. His mind flailed wildly for some solution, some suggestion, anything that would get Mario out of here. "What if…"

Suddenly, it came to him. "What if it was me?" he asked.

The tail slid in an arc across the floor, and now both eyes were on him. "What do you mean?" said the voice in the darkness.

The full weight of what Luigi was doing came down upon him, but he kept his voice steady. "You said someone had to take the punishment," he said. "What if it was me?"

"Luigi…" Mario had never heard Luigi say his name like that. "What are you doing?"

Luigi made the mistake of glancing at Mario's fearful face. That look seared him to the core. He returned his gaze to the floor.

"You would take his place?" the Beast whispered. "You?"

This was the first thing Luigi had said or done that had taken her aback.

"No!" Mario cried. "Don't do this!" It was impossible to tell who the supplication had been meant for, the man or the Beast.

"Yes." Luigi's voice was a strangled whisper. "I'll be your prisoner if you'll only let him go."

The Beast was silent. Luigi heard the silence roaring in his ears. "Look at me," she finally said.

"What?"

"I said, look at me!"

Trembling, Luigi raised his eyes. Before this moment, she had kept to the shadows, ringed only in the faintest haze of light, but now she emerged fully, and Luigi saw her, her form uncurling in the light of a single flame. He saw the light flashing over the thick, burnt scales, saw it gleaming over the dark horns and dripping from the jagged teeth, saw it glinting off the point of the talons as they dug into the stone and saw it pooling in the blue of her livid eyes.

Luigi gave a small cry and pressed his forehead to the cold bars. The Beast's features twisted in anger.

"You can't even bring yourself to look me in the face!" she said. "You honestly expect me to believe you'll stay here?"

Luigi felt a warm hand cradling his cheek. He looked up to see Mario smiling at him. Mario believed he knew Luigi's limits, and so his smile was relieved.

"It's okay, Luigi," he said. "I'll be alright."

Luigi closed his eyes.

"I promise," he said. "I'll stay here for the rest of my life."

Luigi felt the hand on his cheek clench. "No!" Mario whispered.

The Beast was still. "Alright, then," she said. Luigi felt the air stir on the back of his neck as she slithered behind him.

The cell door swung open, and Luigi tumbled into Mario's arms.

Mario's hands clenched Luigi's shoulders. His eyes blazed.

"Luigi, what do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

"I'm sorry, Mario," said Luigi.

"Tell her that you changed your mind! Tell her-!"

Mario's words were cut off with a cry of pain as the Beast seized him and dragged him across the floor. Every inch of stone that scraped across his leg brought a new jolt of agony.

"Mario!" Luigi cried.

Mario's hands slapped futilely against the Beast's grip. "Get off me!" he shouted. Tears stung the corners of his eyes. "I won't go!"

"Mario!"

The cell door slammed shut. Luigi watched as the struggling, writhing form of his brother was dragged down the staircase out of sight. The red cap was still in his hand, and he clutched it to his chest as he knelt with his head bowed in the cell that was now his.

Far below, in the rear of the castle, stood a broken carriage. Its wheels were gone; its harness was gone. Whatever horse or horses had once stood before it had long since died. Leaves blew across the cold cobblestone where it sat, its windows dark and empty.

It was toward this antique ruin, this sad derelict, that the Beast dragged Mario.

Mario frantic struggles had gradually slowed and stopped and now he only clutched the hand of the Beast that held him.

"Please," he was saying, "don't do this. I'll stay here. I'll do whatever you want."

The door of the carriage swung open as they approached. The Beast slid Mario onto its floor as she would have any other package. Her eyes met Mario's as she stood framed in the doorway.

"If you ever come back here," she said, "I'll kill him first."

Mario's eyes were just beginning to widen in horror as she slammed the door.

She spoke in a low whisper that nobody was around to hear.

"Find a doctor in the village."

The wooden trim along the bottom of the carriage cracked and popped in the way of long unused joints. The paneling unfolded and clattered onto the stone, and four spindly, arachnid legs pushed the body of the carriage up from the ground where it had rested for so long. The carriage skittered away on fine, pointed feet, bearing the man inside toward the woods and away.

The Beast did not watch them leave. She turned back toward her castle.

In a moment, the courtyard was empty again.

AN:

Press A to "Mario."

Any time I think a chapter is going to be short, it ends up being longer than the previous chapters. Every time.

I actually meant to have this chapter up sooner, but I was really sick last week. Like, really sick. My father got sick around the same time despite living several states away. It was a psychic sickness.

Dude, what was up with that carriage in the animated film? I think that godforsaken carriage scares people more than the Beast ever does. The fact that its only in the one scene makes it even freakier. I just wish it had been in the live-action movie. Can you imagine how awesome that thing would look in the 2017 film's art style? I'd be into it.

I feel like most people know about this Easter egg by now, but just in case, if you loiter around the well in Luigi's Mansion, you can occasionally hear Mario shout, "Hey, Luigi! What's the holdup?" Some people think that Mario is being overly demanding or a jerk, but it's a bit I actually find heartwarming. Mario is 100% confident that Luigi will save him. When Luigi doesn't show up, it doesn't occur to him that Luigi might have failed or chickened out. He just thinks he's dragging his heels. Mario's got a lot of faith in his brother.

Piranha Plants in Minion's Quest and Bowser Junior's Journey are weak to fire, despite shooting fire themselves. It may be dumb, but I think Popple talking about stupid plants might come across as a bit hypocritical. I don't know to what extent the Beanish can actually be considered plant people, but it sure is fun to refer to Popple as a stupid legume.

Speaking of Popple, why exactly did he save Luigi at first? Well, he was still holding on to some kind of hope of getting paid, but I also don't think Popple is completely evil. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's an unrepentant scumbag, but I feel like there was worse people in the Mario canon. It's not like he's with the BFF or anything. Those people are psychos.

If you liked the chapter, or even if you didn't, be sure to leave a review telling me what you think! There's a prize for anyone who can guess the identities of the enchanted objects in this chapter!

Okay, there won't be prizes, but it'll be fun to guess anyway.

Ciao!