Author's Note: Hello again, I know it's been a hideously long time, but with summer approaching I now have the freedom to work on this story. I am also working on a new project, my blog The Den of the Dweekerd, in which I review books. Go here if you're interested: .com/
Chapter 11: Loss
They ran, and the forest conveniently opened up for them the way it had earlier in their journey. Daisy ran until she thought her lungs were going to explode. Waluigi noticed her lagging behind. He stopped and turned around.
"Come on, Daisy! We're almost there!" he shouted.
"How do you know?" she asked as she caught up with him. A falling object crashed and burst near her feet.
"It's not the time to ask questions, alright?" Waluigi grabbed her hand and pulled her along with them.
They lost track of time as they fled until they were suddenly halted by a mass of black rock.
"Daisy," Waluigi said, pointing above her head. "See that hole in the rock face? I think I can reach it if you give me a leg up."
Daisy gave Waluigi a skeptical look
"Don't worry, I'll pull you up!" he replied.
Daisy positioned herself directly under the hole and cupped her hands. Waluigi put his foot lightly on top of them.
"Okay," he said, "On three. One, two, three!"
Daisy pushed up on Waluigi's foot as he hoisted himself up and wriggled headfirst into the opening. The cave was pitch black, but he felt around until his hands found a small ledge of rock. He grabbed the ledge and flipped over it so he could hang feet-first. He was surprised when his feet hit solid ground.
"Waluigi?" Daisy cried hesitantly.
"I'm coming back up," he replied.
Waluigi climbed back up onto the ledge and hung his arms out of the hole.
"Can you reach my hands?" he asked.
Daisy stretched up her arms as high as she could, and Waluigi held her hands in a firm grasp.
"I'm going to pull you up. You'll have to flip over the ledge I'm standing on. Do you think you can do that?'
"I'll do just about anything at this point," Daisy responded.
Waluigi hauled Daisy up with surprising strength. Then he moved out of the way to give her enough room to upright herself. She landed gracefully on the cave's floor. Waluigi jumped down to join her. He heard Daisy rummaging in her backpack, and suddenly the cavern was flooded with light. Waluigi's first instinct was to tell Daisy to shut it off, lest Kamek somehow detect them. He almost laughed to himself when he realized the futility of trying to outmaneuver the creature who was guiding everyone through his own maze in the first place.
The scenery was bland compared to where they had come from, but it at least appeared to be safe. It seemed to the pair a relatively new cave, with no structures save the smooth rock ceiling and walls. The only natural light came through the same hole through which Daisy and Waluigi had come, and it was fading fast. Daisy thought she could see one final streak of light blazing across the sky from Kamek's unusual attack. She began to wonder what had become of the others.
Suddenly, Daisy heard soft thuds, like footsteps. She wheeled around and whipped her flashlight toward the back of the cave. The beam landed on Luigi's face.
"Luigi," Daisy greeted him with relief. "You made it. Where is Eureka? And the Yoshis?"
"I haven't seen the Yoshis since the attack. Eureka found another clue, but…I don't think you want to see it," he replied. Daisy noticed that Luigi's face was much paler than usual.
"Where is it?" Waluigi asked him.
"Go back that way." He pointed behind Daisy and deeper into the cave. "There's a small room to the left. I'm…going to go sit down."
"I'll stay with Luigi," Daisy whispered to Waluigi. "Go find Eureka."
Waluigi begrudgingly complied and headed in the direction Luigi had pointed. Daisy followed Luigi to a stone wall. He sat with his back to the wall, leaned his head against it, and closed his eyes. Daisy sat next to him. A long silence followed. Finally Luigi spoke.
"What are we doing?" He asked Daisy without looking at her.
"What do you mean? We're saving our friends. We're doing whatever it takes to be able to see them again, defying the odds, risking death, you know, hero stuff. You do it all the time." Daisy sounded braver than she felt.
"It's too late," Luigi whispered.
Before Daisy had a chance to speak again, Waluigi and Eureka returned. Daisy wondered why their faces didn't match Luigi's expression.
"It was nothing," Waluigi explained. "Just a small rock and another note from Kamek."
Luigi's eyes popped open, and he looked at Waluigi with a mixture of shock and disgust. "What?" he exclaimed, "Didn't you see it? I could have sworn…a severed head…my brother…"
"Nope. Sorry to disappoint. Scoot over." Waluigi wedged his way between Daisy and Luigi. Eureka lowered herself into a sitting position on Luigi's other side. She put her arm around Luigi's shoulders and for once, Daisy did not react.
"It must have been an illusion," Eureka explained soothingly. "Kamek is a wizard, after all."
"Well, aren't you going to read the note?" Waluigi asked with impatience.
Eureka cleared her throat before she began. "Illusions can be grand, reality is so bland. Follow the staircase and you will be closer to what you are looking for, but beware. Reality can also be harsh."
"Well, that explains a lot. I didn't even see a staircase. Oh wait, maybe one will appear-" Waluigi was cut off by a loud rumbling sound. He sighed. "Okay, okay I'll go check it out. Don't get up, you might strain yourselves."
Daisy shot Waluigi a menacing look as he picked himself off the floor. Waluigi ignored her and walked back to the room from which he and Eureka had come. He returned with a triumphant smirk on his face.
"Let me guess," Daisy began. "You found the staircase."
"Yes," Waluigi replied wearily as he slumped back down on the floor. He yawned. "Maybe we should rest, just for awhile. Kamek has this all set up for us, so there probably isn't any harm in staying here awhile. He probably anticipated it." Waluigi leaned his head back against the wall. Within a few seconds his snoring echoed throughout the entire cave.
"Well, he's sure to scare away anything frightening anyway with that noise," Daisy mused. She took off her pack and placed it on the floor to use as a pillow.
"I suppose we could all use a little rest," Eureka said.
"I'm wide awake. Maybe I should stand guard." Luigi replied, still unsettled by Kamek's trickery. Eureka made no attempt to stop him as he left her side and paced back and forth across the small space. She soon fell asleep to the rhythm of his steps.
Luigi became lost in his own thoughts as he walked. He knew he saw Mario's head sitting next to that note, or at least he thought he was sure. Eureka had said it must have been an illusion. Were the other incidents illusions as well? Was this whole journey a lie? Luigi shuddered. Maybe everyone was already dead…
The sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts. A flashlight beam danced across the wall where his friends were sleeping.
"Hello?" Luigi called as quietly as he could. The flashlight settled on him.
"Oh…Luigi. I'm happy to see you. I thought the rest of you had died."
"Come closer, I can't see you." Luigi replied to the voice.
A red Yoshi stepped toward him. "It's me, Ichiro. I was traveling with Tokujiro and Saburo, but we became separated. I have yet to see Tokujiro. Saburo was hit with one of Kamek's fireballs," he concluded with a sad tone in his voice.
"I'm sorry," Luigi replied in sympathy. "You're welcome to join us. My friends were just resting. I don't have to tell you it's been a horrible day."
"Thank you, but I do not think I can sleep just now. I feel I must honor Saburo's passing, somehow. He was my brother."
"Maybe we should honor Shiori's as well," came a voice from the wall. It was Waluigi. He got up and joined Luigi and Ichirou in the middle of the cavern. "What do you usually do?" he asked, gravely serious.
Ichiro gasped. "Shiori was lost to us as well?"
"Yes…she…she saved my life." Waluigi looked ashamed.
"She was a very brave and compassionate creature." Ichiro bowed his head.
Luigi stood awkwardly between them, remembering that awful moment and what had progressed afterward. He remembered Daisy helping Eureka to her feet and following after them. Daisy and Waluigi had run much faster than either of them, and they had gotten separated at some point. The rest was a blur. The last thing Luigi remembered before everyone was reunited was finding an entrance to the cave.
"How do Yoshis honor their dead?" Waluigi asked Ichirou softly.
"I was a young child when this island was pure, but I remember the rituals of old. We would float the empty vessels on the leaves of the giant palm and commend their spirits to the hands of the Creator. Then we would sing."
Ichiro closed his eyes and hummed a melody neither Luigi nor Waluigi had ever heard before. It was slow but lilting and soothed their fears for the moment. When he was done, Ichiro spoke in a language the humans did not understand, save for the departed Yoshis' names.
"It means, 'Oh Creator, we give you the souls of Shiori and Saburo. May they rest now that their journey here is over," Ichiro explained. "I think I am ready for a rest now."
Waluigi led Ichiro to the cave wall. Ichiro curled up on the floor while Waluigi resumed his sleeping stance. Luigi chose to stay awake. He tried to imagine what would come next for them, the weary travelers who were called to do this impossible task. He watched through the hole in the cave wall as the stars faded and the sun began rising on another bleak day.
