10. Escape

Luigi splayed his arms against the wall, fire pulsing from his body and into the thick frost covering the fractured stones. He wasn't even concentrating any more; his assault had become little more than a survival reflex, a continuous need to discharge his fire power in order to stop it from reducing his body to ash.

It was the one thing Mario couldn't do to save himself, now. While he still lived, his ice power would continue to build up within him, trapped by the growing iceberg his plummeting temperature fed, with no outlet for him to release it. If the increasing layers of ice didn't cover and suffocate him first, his ice power would consume and eventually kill him, effectively snuffing itself out. Any thawing of the ice now would serve only as confirmation to Luigi of Mario's death.

He grimaced at the irony. The chances of the Toads' survival now depended on how fast Mario would die, and even then, Luigi had no idea how long it would take for him to break the wall down and rescue them on his own.

He could hear the ice heave against the stone as it grew, scraping and grinding against the walls and floor of the collapsed strongroom. Metallic creaks popped and banged from beyond the stone barrier, followed by an even louder gush of flowing water. Had another water pipe burst? What difference did it make, whether he knew or not? The situation had already gone far beyond his control.

The thunderous scraping intensified. Something shattered against his chest. Luigi leapt backwards as shards of rock burst from the wall and clattered to the ground, leaving large holes plugged with thick ice.

He held back his fire, letting the heat build up inside him until he could hold it no longer. Then he threw his arms forward, unleashing a flame rivalling even Bowser's breath. More fragments of stone flew off the wall and pinged off the sides of the tunnel; ice exploded into steam. Water gushed through the gaps lower to the ground, washing away the boxes of elemental flowers.

He should have jumped for joy, but the water didn't refreeze. It meant only one thing; Mario's power-up had faded, and with it, his life. Steam engulfed Luigi's legs as the meltwaters rushed and and swirled around his knees. He looked towards the gap above him, in half a mind to jump up and take a look, but as he saw water trickling in tiny rivulets from the cracks above his head, he realised then, his campaign was over. The water level had risen too high; Mario would have either frozen to death or drowned, and the Toads would have had no chance - their safe ledge would have long been submerged by now.

Numb to the heat building within him, Luigi let his burning arms hang limp at his sides as the water jets washed over him. The stones had weakened but it was too late. He'd failed. He looked up, mesmerised by the web of fractures spreading across the wall. He thought he saw it bulge for a second, before it disintegrated into a roaring wave of ice, meltwater and rock.

His torch went out as the water smashed into him, lifting him off his feet and flushing him down the tunnel. Cold gripped him as his fire-power extinguished. Lumps of rocks and ice tore at his skin and clothes like the teeth of some great monster, ripping him apart. He held his breath against the water until spasms racked his body, forcing him to inhale the debris-filled flood that carried him. A burning pain radiated through his grit and water-filled lungs; lights flashed behind his closed eyelids in time with his overworking heart. His head began to cloud. For a moment he thought he felt Mario's body bump against him in the deadly chaos.

He had nothing left. He had to let go. It felt like everything was rushing away from him. Something punctured his left arm and a tingling warmth spread through his body, washing the pain away. Even brighter lights flashed in his eyes and whispering voices flitted over him. Was this what death really felt like? Sometimes pain would scream through his limbs; sometimes he felt like he was dozing in the warmth of the sun. When the ethereal voices came, sometimes he thought he could hear Mario's among them, although he could never make out what they were saying.

The quiet brought him to his senses. It rang in his ears. The pillow crackled as he turned his head but he could see nothing for the dark. Blinking, he eased himself into a sitting position and waited for his head to stop swimming. Shapes came into focus in the dark. A chair. A table. The footboard of his bed. He knew this bed. He knew this room. The only room in Dr. Toadley's hospital equipped to care for humans, it held too many unpleasant memories of previous stays. But it confirmed one thing at least - somehow, he was alive. Somehow, he'd survived that onrush of debris, and without an ounce of 1UP in his body.

He swung his bare legs over the side of the bed and stood, ignoring the soreness in his muscles, the pain of healing wounds and the stiffness of what must have once been a dislocated shoulder. At his first step forward he felt a sharp, tugging sensation in the crook of his elbow which coincided with the clash of the drip-stand against the other side of his bed. He lunged backwards to grab it before it fell, and then rolled across the bed to the other side to steady it. He stifled a moan. Sudden movements hurt. He waited for the pain to subside before trying to sit up again.

"If you're planning your escape, can you do it more quietly? A man needs his sleep in a place like this."

Luigi's stomach turned over. He had to be hallucinating, now. Either he really had died and had joined Mario in some bizarre afterlife or… it wasn't possible. Was it?

"Mario?" he said, "but you are… I thought you were..."

"Dead?" Mario grunted in discomfort as he shifted around in the bed next to Luigi's. "I would have been. There was still a trace of 1UP in my system, or so Dr. Toadley said. Must… ow... have been... that tonic powder you gave me, back at the house. Getting drunk saved my life, eh?"

"You… but…" Lost for words, Luigi peered at the apparition in the dark. Was it real? As far as he could see, Mario's head, arms, hands, shoulders and chest were swathed in bandages, and by the shape of the bed cover, it seemed as though a frame had been inserted to keep it off his legs. He couldn't be imagining that, could he? "How… how are you?" he asked.

Mario groaned as he lifted his head from the pillow. "The ice, it protected me from all of the falling rock. I would be okay, if it wasn't for the frostbite. But what about you?"

In a daze, Luigi shrugged, and then wished he hadn't. His shoulders hurt. "I am good to go home, I think."

"Heh, I don't think so." Mario's weak chuckle turned into a pained moan. "You were out cold for four days. Now be a good little bro and get back into bed."

"Four days? Then four days here is enough." Luigi turned his attention to removing the tape holding the I.V. in his arm.

"Luigi," said Mario, "You don't understand. They had to resuscitate you. You were almost torn to pieces. Broken bones, a punctured lung - I know how fast the 1UP heals but you could at least let them check you over before you go. "

Luigi looked round at him in fury. Now he knew it wasn't an illusion. "Is everything I have said forgotten?" he said, doing his best to keep his voice down. "I am not a child for you to look after!"

Mario raised a bandaged hand in defeat and sighed. "Whatever you say, bro." He didn't sound like he had the strength to argue.

Luigi went back to picking at the tape. Grasping at one loose corner, he began to peel it back.

"But you should still have someone keep an eye on you," said Mario. "Especially if you're going back to live on your own."

Luigi closed his eyes to draw patience. "I talk to the professor through the T.V. every day. It was always the agreement for me to leave Toad Town, no? I will be okay."

"I am afraid that you won't have the Professor's company for much longer. There are things that have happened while you have been asleep." Mario caught his breath in pain. "The Princess - she has agreed to Toadsworth's advice. You see, Elvin is getting old and careless and…"

"N-no!" Luigi flinched at having spoken too loud. Anxious not to have alerted the night nurses, he lowered his voice to a near whisper. "It... it is everything for him. She must not stop the research…"

"It is all about security," said Mario. "The ghost canister - they cannot risk King Boo catching me for the third time."

Luigi pursed his lips and gave the catheter in his arm a tentative tug. He remembered Toadsworth voicing his concerns about Gadd during the interview. He'd assumed the answer would have been to send some trained Toads to keep an eye on the canister. "Mario," he said, "you must talk to the princess for to change her mind." he said. "She listens to you."

"Not this time, she didn't," said Mario. "And I tried, Luigi, really, I tried. They have too much to think about, with the repairing of the castle and of Toad Town. Elvin's research is not her priority."

Feeling the catheter loosen a little, Luigi drew a sharp breath and pulled it out of his vein. Blood leaked out of the wound and pooled in the crook of his elbow.

"Euch," said Mario, his head flopping back onto the pillow. "Did you have to do that in front of me?"

Luigi glanced up at him. "You did not have to look."

Without anything within reach to stem the bleeding with, Luigi grabbed the hem of his nightshirt and pressed it onto his arm. Blood-tinged 1UP fluid dribbled out of the catheter and onto the sheets. Now that he was unhooked, Luigi looked around for where his clothes might be. He couldn't see them. With no choice but to wait until his arm stopped bleeding, Luigi shuffled back against the headboard.

"I will do something. I will stop her," he said, although he didn't know how he could possibly change Princess Peach's mind if Mario had already failed.

"Hmmpf. Good luck with that, bro."

Thoughts of the princess led Luigi's mind back to the castle. Vivid images of the flooded strongroom and the growing iceberg flashed at him. "What happened with the two Toads?" he asked. "Toadlon and Toadette…"

"Alive and recovering," said Mario. "That Toadlon, he's a resourceful one. He says that while the water was rising he floated Toadette to a higher ledge, and so they escaped the worst of the washout… Aaahh…" He fell back onto his pillow, breathing heavily, his face twisted in agony.

Startled, Luigi sat forward. "Mario, what's wrong? The 1UP is not working on frostbite?"

"It's okay…" said Mario, through gritted teeth. "If this pain is anything to go by, then it's healing well…" Mario stifled another groan. He sounded worn out. "According... to Dr. Toadley, pain is... a good sign… Huh. I never... trusted him." He closed his eyes.

Luigi watched Mario for a while, deciding not to disturb him any more. Once the bleeding from his arm had almost stopped, he swung his feet to the floor and felt for the cupboard he knew would be at the bedside. Inside, he found a set of overalls and shirt he hadn't worn since he and Mario had first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom. He'd assumed his brother would have thrown them away by now, but he'd evidently not been able to bring himself to do it.

For once, Luigi was grateful for Mario's sentimentality. The Toads must have brought the old overalls from Mario's house, presumably because his current ones had been torn beyond repair. His tender injuries complained as he squeezed himself into his old clothes; he'd put on some weight since he'd last worn them.

Luigi glanced through the window at the lightening sky. Dawn was still a long way off yet, but still, he needed to get moving. He crept towards the door and looked back at his brother, unsure as to whether he'd fallen asleep. "Goodbye, Mario," he whispered.

Mario's eyes flickered open. "I… I wish you didn't have to go."

Luigi swallowed. "I know," he said, hoping that slipping into Italian would soften the blow. "But… things are different for me, now. I don't think anyone can understand..."

"Do whatever you have to do." Mario's voice wobbled. "Just... please… keep in contact this time, eh?"

"If you promise you will never give up on the Toads again," said Luigi. "Remember what you always told me. 'We are Marios. We don't give up.'"

Mario's eyes glinted in the growing light. "Yes, we are Marios," he said, "and don't you forget it."

Luigi nodded. "Get better, Mario," he said, moving back into English. "And go to the Pillow Island for to rest and sleep. No making trouble there, yes?"

"I don't make trouble, trouble comes to me." Mario raised his head again and groaned. "Stay a bit longer, Luigi, eh? The nurses, they change shifts soon, and they will be busy with the hand-over. If you wait until then, they will not notice you go. I won't tell."

"Okay," said Luigi, "but no more talking. Rest, now." He moved back to his own bed and sat on the edge, while Mario settled back and shut his eyes.

The slow increase in light began to reveal the extent of the sores on his brother's sleeping face. Luigi shuddered at the haunting flashbacks of seeing him struggling in the ice. Only then did it dawn on him how devastated he'd felt in that moment when he thought Mario had died. Ever since his time as Mr. L it had bothered him how indifferent he'd felt towards Mario, but this… it proved he really did care enough. It was cold comfort now, though. The mind-butchering he'd undergone for Count Bleck's cause had taken its toll on Mario too, and more severely than he'd expected.

Luigi stared at his brother and shook his head. What Mario was doing to himself was senseless. Had he really been waiting all that time in the hope that the 'old Luigi' would come back? He recalled the moment he'd released Mario from that picture frame in Evershade. The mix of disbelief and delight on Mario's face. Mario shaking his hand so hard that it ached. Mario draping an arm over his shoulder like they were the closest brothers in the world. He could still hear Mario whoop with joy beside him as that crazy ghost took their photograph. He remembered how he'd been caught up in the euphoria, and Mario must have thought… must have really believed that he had the 'old Luigi' back again.

How cruel a shock it must have been for Mario to pixel-shift to the house of his long lost brother, who was being… well… like this… and to realise that it wasn't the 'old Luigi' who'd rescued him after all, because the Luigi he once knew had gone for good...

Luigi rubbed at his temples in frustration. If Mario needed to grieve that loss, then would it even be wise to keep in touch at all? Would it make matters worse? On the other hand, Mario's reckless decision to enter the strongrooms without considering the risks showed that the way he was now, he was incapable of handling a disaster on his own. He wasn't thinking straight any more. He was making mistakes. Luigi realised that Mario would probably need someone to watch his back on this Pillow Island trip.

A door-bang and voices echoing from elsewhere in the building broke his thoughts. He moved back to the door and peeped through the inset window. If he was going to slip out unnoticed, now would be the time. He opened it just wide enough for him to slide through.

"I must go, now," he whispered, "to fix things for the Professore."

He paused for an answer, but this time Mario seemed to be asleep. Luigi watched him for a moment to make sure, and then crept out of the room. Closing the door behind him, he looked back in through the window. Mario looked peaceful, but his own empty bed would be spotted straight away. He'd have to move before he was missed.

"Stay safe, Mario," he said, placing his fingers on the glass. Then he turned and headed into the shadows of the darkened corridor.

A/N - Thank you everyone for reading, for your support, and especially for your reviews, because your feedback helps create a better story for everyone to read. Writing this has been a challenge for us both, especially since the different time zones we live in means that we were rarely able to work together 'live'.

We both hope you enjoyed The First Step, and would love to hear your feedback and comments, now that it is complete.

DarkFoxKit and Verran