Chapter 9
There was tightness around his throat, digging in with stinging pains. His lungs screamed for air. His head swam. His body trembled and chilled as his vision and life began to fade.
He fell to his knees, wheezing for air with one hand clawing at his neck as if he could stop it. Air collected in his mouth, unable to move down to his lungs; useless.
Stop. He just wanted it to stop. Tears pooled in his eyes in response to his unvoiced protest and his heart thudded in fear and panic.
Then, suddenly, he could breathe again. The pain retreated, leaving him able to breathe. He gulped down air while ignoring the tears streaking down his cheeks.
A large, grubby claw clenched at his hair. It pulled his head up until he was face-to-face with Bower's snout.
"Shall I give your Princess evidence, so she knows I told the truth?" Bowser asked in a low tone. Shall I show her your dead body? was what he was really asking.
Luigi knew that Bowser could see the fear in his eyes, that the large king relished it. He had ordered Luigi to take off the white, Shy Guy-like mask just so he could see his face.
Another claw brushed against his face.
Well? Bowser questioned.
"No!" Luigi shoot up with a cry. He scrambled back against the headboard, momentarily lost in recollections of his dreams and memories. He struggled to breathe against the panic and tears flooding down his cheeks.
"Luigi?" Petal's voice reminded him of where he was and helped calm him a little. The little spirit's glow worked almost like a nightlight.
"I'm sorry for waking you," Luigi said. He clasped his hands together and rested his head on his fist.
Bowser had punished him for letting Princess Daisy escape. It hadn't mattered that he had raised the alarm or that he had caught her. Or maybe it had, in that he was still alive and not rotting in a ditch somewhere.
Or rotting in Daisy's room. He shuddered at the thought.
"Petal, is the princess okay?" He had asked the question a few times since he couldn't hover over Daisy to make sure Bowser doesn't punish her.
"Princess is okay. Big Spiny doesn't care about her." Petal paused for a moment, before telling him, "she cries. She cries and calls your name."
Luigi's heart clenched in his chest and tears began to fall down his cheeks. He wanted nothing more than to go into the Princess' room and show her he was still alive. But, if he revealed himself at this point, Bowser would probably just kill him on principle.
"Kamek has your body," he told Petal, remembering the promise they had made each other. He would get a princess to Petal and Petal would free said princess. "Do you think you could move it?" Even as a spirit, Petal had been able to touch things. But moving things over a distance could be difficult.
"I can try," Petal announced with determination. She wasn't about to let big Spiny hurt the Princess or Luigi any more.
"You might want to wait until we get back," Luigi said, his mind whirling. "Kamek uses your body to check whether the petals are real. It won't be until we have all four that he'll drop his guard." Seeing that Petal wasn't convinced by what he was saying, he added, "and I want to gather the rest of the petals. You can take them when you leave with Daisy and keep them away from Bowser."
There was an indescribable expression on Petal's face, like she wanted to tell him something but didn't think he would like it. She had been making that expression a lot and Luigi had learnt to ignore it.
If it was important, he figured she would tell him.
It was the day they would leave for Sarasaland and the final two petals. The Koopa Cruiser would ship out in the afternoon, reaching Birabuto early in the morning; during the perfect time to plunder and steal.
Luigi went to great pains to collect enough food for the next few days. He bundled it all in a basket and knocked on the door to Daisy's room.
"Go away!" the Princess shouted.
Luigi sighed and removed the barricade before walking in. The guards stationed at the door let him pass and slid the barricade back into place as he entered.
A pillow immediately assaulted his face, bouncing off the mask and possibly permanently flattening his nose.
He ignored it. In fact, he was a little surprised that she hadn't tried to smash his face in with something harder. She was grieving and he was guilty.
"Princess, here's your food for the next few days," he explained as he placed the basket on the dining table in the centre of the room.
"Don't want it," she grumbled to him, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Her face was screwed up in resentment.
Luigi sighed and dug down into the bottom of the basket.
"I'm going away for a few days on an errand," he said, "but I did bring you a present."
She didn't respond. He was a little frustrated since he was taking a real risk bringing this to her. If Bowser found out or even Kamek, Luigi didn't know what they would do but he knew it would end up with a punishment for him at least.
He placed the large white gloves in front of her and stepped away.
"What?" she questioned in confusion, looking up at him then to the gloves. She picked them up and examined them.
They were much larger than her dainty hands and stubbier too. When she noticed the name written inside them, she gasped.
"These are Luigi's!" she announced, examining them once more with renewed enthusiasm.
Luigi smiled as he watched a little bit of the old, energetic Daisy creep back in. They were his old gloves, the ones he replaced the day he joined Bowser. The ones he wore now were grey leather. They weren't as conductive as his cotton white gloves and so kept his thunderhand from activating properly so he didn't accidentally give away his identity while defending himself.
He walked towards the door and knocked, asking to be let out. As he slipped outside, he heard Daisy cry out;
"Wait! Where did you find these?"
The Birabuto Kingdom was shrouded in cool darkness. There were pyramids in the background and the odd palm tree. They landed a fair distance away from the city and walked in. This time Corporal Paraplonk came with him. The flying, red Koopa Paratroopa wore a red bucket on his head and hovered everywhere.
"Wow, people work early here," Corporal Paraplonk commented as they walked through the town. It was a long time before the sun would rise, yet there were still people around. Lion-like Gaos, Goombos; the Sarasaland cousins of Goombas, and black-shelled Bombshell Koopas went about their daily business in the dark.
"I guess it must get really hot during the day," Luigi commented. He guessed that the down-time for the city was during the middle of the day, when the sun would beat down mercilessly.
"So, where do you think we'll find this petal-thing?"
Luigi looked around. The buildings were built close together, with coloured banners hanging over doors and the surrounding street. The place looked like one clustered marketplace.
"Didn't you listen when Kamek explained?" Luigi questioned with a sigh. "The petal should be in the main hall."
The main hall was a large, church-like building in the middle of the city. Unlike all the other buildings, it existed by itself, with a large path area around it. It had three steeples, two at the front and one at the back.
Kamek had said that the third petal was hidden in the front left steeple.
"How am I supposed to get up there?" Luigi questioned, looking up. The wall was smooth and impossible to climb or jump. The front doors were locked.
"That's what I'm here for!" Corporal Paraplonk said, hovering above him.
Luigi sighed and held up his hands, closing his eyes. He felt the ground rush away from him as Corporal Paraplonk pulled him into the air.
He bit down a scream of terror and kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Even when he felt the ground beneath his feet, he stayed completely still. If he moved, he would certainly collapse in fear.
