Author's Note: Sorry for the delay... I was too lazy to write anything for a few days.
Chapter Nine: Inscrutable
Explaining the situation wasn't something that I could do very easily, considering that I was every bit as shocked as King Boo. Waluigi's appearance was completely unexpected, and I had not yet been given a chance to speak to him and find out exactly what had caused him to turn up in the mansion. I had a vague idea that he had been helping Wario in the forest, but some kind of ghost had attacked them and he had run away, leaving his older brother to fend for himself; at least, that was what I had heard him saying. Needless to say, the intimidating ghost King was not at all impressed, nor convinced, by Waluigi's obscure explanation of what had happened to Wario and himself out in the forest last night. That was probably the reason why my bizarre, purple-clad rival had been locked in the mansion's basement, which was being used as a temporary jail cell according to BooGie, who had filled me in on the details of the day's happenings.
He had seemed incredibly anxious, something that I found almost funny, because I had never seen any ghost act like it was frightened of anything. But all the ghosts feared Waluigi, even the King himself. There was just something about him that made them uneasy, loathe to even speak with him. That, at least, I could understand. My experiences with my cousin (for that was who he was) had been few and far between in the past, but that didn't make them any less unpleasant. Waluigi was well-known in the Mushroom Kingdom for being a terrible thief, as well as something of a bully, as I remembered vividly from the times he and Wario had tried to frighten me when we were very young. They attempted it whenever Mario was not there to stand up for me, and I had rapidly developed a deep fear and hatred of my two older cousins and their criminal ways.
But today, I refused to allow my fear of Waluigi to stop me from discovering the unknown truth about him. Although BooGie had not discussed him at great length, I knew that the ghosts wanted me to speak with him and take any information he could give me. He was the key to everything we were working on – Wario's stealing plot, Mario's disappearance – and we needed him, despite our mistrust of him. Waluigi was the one person I really wasn't comfortable around; even Wario had been nothing worse than an annoying troublemaker, always stealing your belongings when your back was turned. It was my other cousin who really caused the old fear and unease to rise up inside me like poison, and I doubted I would ever lose that feeling of deep, unavoidable mistrust when in his presence; a sense of danger and dread inspired by the long years of thieving and bullying when we were children.
It was obvious that, despite these reasons to be afraid of him, I was going to be forced to speak to Waluigi soon enough. The ghosts did not have the power to keep him locked up in the basement for very long – give him enough time and he'd be out of there in a flash, probably destroying half the mansion during his escape.
One thing I had noticed, and paid much attention to, was that the boos in the mansion worked as a single mind. Their behaviour was similar to a swarm of bees, who always knew what they were supposed to be doing at a particular time, never altering their work patterns to suit their own, separate wishes. There were no secrets kept among the white ghosts, who acted as though they could read each other's minds. If one boo was frightened, then the fear passed around until every other boo was affected by it. So fixed and unwavering was this pattern, I doubted anything could change the way the boos' minds worked, and this pattern could very well be their downfall in the end. This was what happened after Waluigi came to the mansion and was immediately locked in the basement by the King. The singular mind of the boo colony felt their King's unease and picked up on it, and before long nearly every ghost was affected by a deep, dark fear that they did not understand.
I couldn't have allowed it to continue safely for much longer, not when I saw how the ghosts' emotions had changed along with Waluigi's arrival. As I wandered up and down the hallways of the mansion, the tension in the air was as thick as smoke. The young Toad, Jak, followed me loyally as I continued to explore as I had done the rest of the day, but I could tell that he, like the ghosts, was nervous. Even so, I was reluctant to get the meeting with my cousin over and done with. I had not seen him in several months, and I had no idea how he would react to my attempts at conversation with him. Worse, I was expected to get information out of him somehow, a feat which I was sure would be impossible. Waluigi was famous for intelligence that surpassed his older brother's in every way. I remembered him well for his cunning and suspicion, and I had often wondered how Wario had never seemed to notice it before. No matter how much I thought about it, I knew I would never have the ability to get any information out of my cousin regarding Mario's mysterious disappearance. And yet, King Boo still expected me to speak with my imprisoned cousin before nightfall, which was the time Waluigi was most likely to try and make his escape. There was nothing I could do but obey the fearsome King's command, and I knew that, no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to force Waluigi to tell me anything he was not already willing to tell me.
It was with a feeling of resignation that I finally left my two companions and walked downstairs towards the basement. Jak offered to accompany me, but I was kind enough to decline the offer; I knew he hated Waluigi as much as I did. BooGie didn't even ask to come with me, but simply gave me a small wave and a concerned expression as I began my slow wander down into the depths of the mansion. It was dark in the basement, but I had experienced worse darkness, and it barely worried me anymore, although I did wish I still had my flashlight with me so that I could walk without tripping over things I couldn't see. I had a second problem: nobody had specified exactly where Waluigi was. After fifteen minutes of stumbling around, tripping over small mountains of dust, I eventually heard something coming from a corner of the room. It sounded like a quiet chuckle.
'Who's there?' I asked stupidly. Of course, there was only one other person in the basement, so who else was it going to be? I shook my head and quickly, but carefully, made my way across the room until I found the corner my cousin was occupying. He stood underneath a dusty old portrait of an old-looking ghost, arms folded and watching me with what I could only guess was an expression of amusement. I felt more annoyed than I should have done, but when I looked straight into his eyes, the annoyance faded and was replaced by the old fear I had so often associated with the appearance of my cousin.
I hadn't seen him in months, but he looked exactly as he'd always done. Dressed entirely in purple and black, he towered a good two feet or so over my head. It seemed impossible that anyone could be so tall, and I found myself wondering if he had actually grown taller in the past year. I certainly didn't remember him being so intimidating, but that was probably just because we were in a dark basement and it was difficult to see him at all. The brim of his cap was pulled down low over his eyes, casting them into deep shadow and making it impossible to see what he might have been thinking. His moustache was a different shape from mine; jet-black and pointed upwards at the tips in the shape of his emblem, which was also shown on the front of his cap and scribbled on the backs of his gloves. I let out my breath slowly and calmly, refusing to show any nervousness in the presence of my cousin, even though I wished I had never come down here to speak with him in the first place.
'You have some explaining to do,' I said, not looking directly at him for fear of losing my courage entirely; I settled for staring at a wooden floorboard instead. If he noticed this, he never mentioned it, but let out another brief chuckle that literally set me quaking in my boots. I did my best to ignore him, still gazing at the floor and awaiting his answer to my statement. His laughing ceased after a few moments, and I felt his concealed eyes on me as he looked down and replied:
'What do you want to know?'
I jumped slightly before returning my gaze to him, surprised that he had not argued or given me a sardonic response. But there was nothing at all sarcastic in his voice, just a bored resignation and a faint note of curiosity that made me wonder if he was truly as evil as I remembered him. I remembered him as a thief and a bully, always ganging up on me and Mario and challenging us to battles, sabotaging our plans and plotting revenge whenever we foiled his attempts. But this was a side of Waluigi I had never seen nor heard before; not angry or unpleasant but vaguely, detachedly amused. I drew in another shuddering breath of the musty air, preparing myself to think up a response.
'Many things.' Two words was the best I could come up with, but I knew Waluigi preferred people to be direct when speaking to him.
'I think I can guess what you want from me.' Again, his tone was not annoyed or even suspicious, but simply curious, as though he could not quite understand what I was talking to him for.
'D-do you?'
'I know about Mario's disappearance, but only because my idiot brother told me about it. You don't have a chance of finding him. You don't have a clue where he is.'
My anger spiked. 'Does Wario have something to do with Mario going missing? I thought -'
'You have no idea,' my cousin replied, grinning visibly under the shadow of his cap. 'My brother might have known about it, but that doesn't mean he was the one who organised it. Mario wasn't kidnapped by Wario; he just wandered into the mansion and never came back again.'
'Liar,' I hissed, annoyance turning into real anger at Waluigi's smug tone as he told me these things that could not be true. 'I've spent all day searching the mansion, and I couldn't find Mario anywhere. Not even the g-ghosts have seen him...'
'Well, obviously he's been well-hidden by whoever took him.'
'Wh-what?' I yelped. 'You said that he hadn't been kidnapped! Are you trying to confuse me or something?'
Waluigi sniggered.
'I'm warning you...' I hissed, although I knew I could not have beaten him in any kind of fight. My powers were pathetic compared to his, and both of us knew it. Not only that, but my attempt to intimidate him didn't have the effect I had hoped for; instead, he just sniggered again, mockingly, reverting to the Waluigi I knew, the one who had terrified me for nearly all my life, and I backed away a few steps. 'J-just tell me where Mario is!' I cried, almost pleading with him now, but he shook his head and sneered.
'I said he hadn't been kidnapped by Wario. That doesn't mean he hasn't been taken by somebody else. He has enough enemies to form an army, remember, and there's a good chance that one of the ghosts in this house has something to do with his... disappearance.'
By that point I had backed so far away from him that I could barely see him through the darkness anymore, but I could still hear his voice, and the words he spoke made me tremble in fear as I realised that I might never find Mario again. Waluigi grinned at me, then pushed up the brim of his cap a little, so I could see his eyes for the first time. 'In fact, your brother might be somewhere in this mansion, and you've never noticed. He might be in this room, he might be standing right behind you, and you don't have any idea he's there. You're not observant enough, little cousin. Mario will never be rescued by someone as pathetic and cowardly as you.'
Fury replaced the fear, but this time I managed to control it – and I was lucky I did, for Waluigi was eyeing me in wordless warning. I opened my mouth, but it was several more seconds before I worked up the courage to speak. 'I will find Mario,' I said, making the words into a vow. 'I'll find him before Halloween.'
'Probably a good idea,' my older cousin snickered. 'Everyone knows that Halloween is the time when all the real ghosts appear... not those stupid boos that float around this mansion all day, but the proper ghosts. The dangerous ones. So if you plan on rescuing your brother, you should do it quickly, Luigi... you don't have much time left.'
I swallowed nervously and forced myself to look directly into my cousin's eyes, wishing I was taller so I didn't have to crane my neck upwards to be able to see his face. 'Don't worry about that,' I said with as much conviction as I could muster, glaring at him the whole while, 'I'll find Mario, and I'll bring him home safely. No matter what you think will happen, I will never give up looking for him.'
I turned on my heel, intending to storm out of the basement and leave Waluigi there alone again, but my foot caught on something and I fell headfirst into the floor with a dull thump. I heard a low laugh coming from right above me, and my cousin's shoe nudged my side. 'Good luck with that,' he said quietly, more quietly than I had expected, as he leaned over me and spoke directly into my ear. 'And I hope you succeed, because it'll get pretty boring here without your stupid brother hanging around.'
I heard no more after that, not even the sound of Waluigi's footsteps as he strode away and vanished into the pitch darkness. And when I finally decided to stand up, he was nowhere to be seen; it was as though he had simply melted into the floor, leaving me to ponder the mysterious, cryptic clues he had given me.
